From the D.G.M.B...... The Magic

We wish to acknowledge the generous of the Mind support received from our readers and benefactors who continue to pool in their resources into this 'Ford-of-Nectar'. Convinced of the Buddha's words that the gift of Dhamma is far superior to a gift of material things, some of An Exposition of the them even take this opportunity to transfer to their departed relatives as a mark of gratitude. May the merit of this Dhammadàna KâLAKâRâMA SUTTA conduce to their attainment of the supreme Bliss of Nibbàna!

by K. ¥àõananda Dhamma is Priceless! Strictly for free distribution The Magic First Impression - 2007

of the Mind Copies of this book may be obtained from:

An Exposition of the 1. Pothgulgala Aranyaya KâLAKâRâMA SUTTA 'Pahan Kanuwa' Kandegedara, by Bhikkhu K. ¥àõananda Devalegama.

Originally published by the Buddhist Publication Society, 2. Mr. G. T. Bandara Kandy in 1974, Royal Institute 191, Havelock Road, Colombo 05. The present revised edition by the D.G.M.B. is strictly for free distribution, 3. Mr. D. T. Weragala 422, Welipara, as a gift of Dhamma. Thalawatugoda.

4. Mr. Anura Rupasingha Available for free down load at: www.seeingthroughthenet.net No. 27, Colombo Street Kandy. ISBN 955-1255-09-7 5. The Department of Public Trustee No. 02, Bullers Road, Colombo 07. Published by Grantha Mudrana Bhàraya Printed by Sri Lanka The Quality Printers. 2007 17/2, Pangiriwatta Road, Gangodawila, Nugegoda. Tel : 011-4302312

(i) (ii) About the D.G.M.B......

Rare is the birth of a Buddha in this world. So rare too, is the opportunity to listen to his Dhamma. This conviction has inspired THE MAGIC OF THE MIND many a devoted Buddhist to cherish the Dhamma as something extremely precious. The Buddha has declared that salutary friendship (Kalyàna- This book presents an exposition of the Kàlakàrama Sutta Þ a mittatà) is almost synonymous with his dispensation. The gift-of- canonical discourse with a hallowed tradition which has fallen into Dhamma is the link that moulds the bond of this friendship. Dhamma neglect at present. The terse discourse of the Buddha is given in an deserves no price-tag precisely because it is price-less. annotated translation prologued by a humorously conceived parable of a Magic Show. A detailed and penetrative exposition of the It is in this spirit that the D.G.M.B. launched its Dhamma-dàna discourse draws out the psychological and philosophical movement in 1997. Many a parched traveller on the desert path has had implications of the text. As the title indicates, the main theme is the a refreshing drink of the nectar of Dhamma free of charge ever since. illusory nature of consciousness. The exposition centers on a Many an enthusiastic benevolent heart seized the opportunity to discussion of the Law of Dependent Arising (Paticca-Samuppàda) participate in a genuine act of Dhammadàna. as a Golden Mean which freely transcends the dualities of Existence Should we always go for things that sport a price-tag? Is everything and Non-existence and Mind-and-Matter. As in the author's earlier that comes free to us, necessarily worthless? What about the air and the work, 'Concept and Reality in Early Buddhist Thought', here too the sunshine? nature of concepts forms an important subject. Observations on the relation between word and meaning are likely to be of relevance to It is in point of merit that the gift of-Dhamma excels all other gifts. linguistics and semantic philosophy. An attempt is also made to Dhamma is the nectar that quenches the insatiate samsàric thirst of reconcile the negative and positive definitions of Nibbàna Þ the beings. The gift of Dhamma is therefore of far greater merit than an summum bonum which holds the prospect of inward peace through ordinary gift of food or drink. For the magnanimous-Dhammadàna is the stilling of all mental formations. for ever an unfailing source of altruistic joy. All enquiries regarding participation in this Dhammadàna should * * * * * * * * be addressed to:-

Mr.G.T.Bandara The Settlor, D.G.M.B., Royal Institute, 191, Havelock Road, Colombo – 05. Fax : 2592749, 2580564

(iii) (iv) "Sabbadàna§ Dhammadàna§ Jinàti" "The gift of Dhamma excels all other gifts" CONTENTS PREFACE Page The Magic of the Mind was written by me during the early phase Introduction 1 of my monk's life at , Dodanduwa. It was first published by the Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, in 1974 at the List of Abbreviations 4 request of the late Venerable Nyànaponika Mahàthera of revered memory who even took the trouble to compile an Index for the book. I. The Magic-Show Þ a Prologue 5 Over the years, it has gone through several reprints and has been translated into Yugoslavian (Serbo-Croation) German and Korean II. Kàlakàràma Sutta 8 languages. A Sinhala translation is also in preparation. I am glad that the D.G.M.B. has now decided to include this book also in their list of III. Sign and Significance in Sense-perception 13 Dhammadàna publications, and that the D.S.M.B is making it IV. Dependent Arising Þ a via-media 17 available to the world through the internet. I wish to record my appreciation of the help and encouragement V. The Vortical Interplay Þ Consciousness given by the following in bringing out this Dhammadàna edition. versus Name-and-Form 25 To Mr.G.T.Bandara for persistently inviting me to take this step. To. Dr.G.W.N.Jayasiri and Mr.Zoimbu Sudesh for ably resetting VI. Self Þ The 'Point-of-' 34 the type for the new edition. VII. The Transcendental Path 41 To Mr.C.Jayasoma and his staff of the Quality Printers for their share in the quality of this Dhamma-gift. VIII. Suchness and the Such-like One 44 and last but not least Þ IX. Essence of Concepts 57 To all those generous supporters who pool in their resources into this 'Ford-of-Nectar' that the Dhamma-thirsty world may drink X. Non-manifestative Consciousness 68 deep of the ambrosial Dhamma free of charge. 'Nibbàna§ Parama§ §' XI. Peace is Bliss in NibbhànaÞan Epilogue 81 'Nibbàna is Bliss Supreme' Þ Bhikkhu Katukurunde ¥àõananda Index 89

Pothgulgala Aranya Pahan Kanuwa Kandegedara Devalagama Sri Lanka 15.02.2007 (B.E. 2550)

(v) (vi) INTRODUCTION

Kàlakàràma Sutta Þ Historical Background The Kàlakàràma Sutta was preached by the Buddha to the 'Etadatthà bhikkhave kathà, etadatthà monks while he was staying at the Kàlaka monastery in Sàketa. mantanà, etadatthà upanisà, etadattha§ Apart from mention of the venue, the discourse, as it is recorded in sotàvàdhàna§, yadida§ anupàdà cittassa the Anguttara Nikàya (II. 24.ff.), is not placed in any significant vimokkho' – AI198 context to show us how it was inspired. The commentary (A.A.) finds for it a setting in the aftermath of the conversion of the millionaire Kàlaka, who is supposed to have constructed the 'Conversation monks is for this monastery. According to it, the discourse was a sequel to the purpose, consultation is for this purpose, widespread acclamation of the Buddha's marvellous qualities. Be reliance is for this purpose, lending-ear is that as it may, the discourse, as a matter of fact, does contain some marvellous aspects of the Tathàgata's transcendental . That for this purposeÞthat is to say, for the the impact of the discourse was actually astounding is symbolically Clinging-free Deliverance of the Mind.' expressed by the commentarial assertion that the earth trembled at five points in this sermon, at the conclusion of which five hundred monks attained Arahantship. The Sutta gains a high degree of historical importance owing to the tradition handed down by the commentaries and chronicles,1 that it was preached by the venerable Mahàrakkhita Thera to convert the country of the Yonakas during the great missionary movement which took place in the reign of the Emperor Asoka. If the identification of the Yonakas with Greeks is correct, the choice of this deeply philosophical discourse for such a significant occasion, could not have been a mere coincidence. It might have been prompted by the consideration that the philosophically mature minds of the Greeks would be able to receive it well. Tradition has it that the impact of the discourse on the Yonakas was considerable, for thirty-seven thousand people attained to the Fruits of the Path on hearing it (op.cit.). 1. See D.P.P. I 573 f.

(vii) 1 The Buddhists of ancient Ceylon too, seem to have recognized him to a 'magic-show' which will serve as a prologue to the the value of Kàlakàrama Sutta as a theme capable of mustering the exposition attempted in the present work. The 'magic-show', essence of Dhamma for a lengthy sermon. One memorable however, is by no means a profane element here, since it is merely an occasion on which it formed the subject of an all-night sermon, was amplification of a canonical prototype attributed to the Buddha when the arahant Kàla ('Black') Buddharakkhita Thera preached it himself. Beginning with the canonical simile proper, the Prologue in the dark night of the new-moon day of the dark fortnight under a will expand into a kind of parable which Þ though a trifle modern black Timbaru tree at Cetiyapabbata. The coincidence of in its flavour Þ is designed to 'lubricate' the reader's mind in view 'darkness' (kàla) in the names of the Sutta and the preacher as well of the 'dry' discourse that will follow. In a limited sense, it will also as in the environment, probably accounts for the memorability of serve as a framework for discussion. the occasion. The presence of King Tissa (probably Saddhàtissa) in Chapter Two will present the translation of the Sutta followed by the audience, may also have contributed its share of dignity to the a few explanatory notes, some of which are from venerable occasion. 's commentary to the Sutta. The purpose of these notes is to see that some sense emerges out of the text as it stands, Significance of the Sutta with many variant readings. A deeper appreciation of the actual In spite of its hallowed tradition, today, at any rate, the Kàlakàràma contents of the Sutta will, however, be reserved for the subsequent Sutta can hardly be regarded as popular. It rarely comes up as a chapters. subject of a sermon and allusions to it in serious expositions of the The simile and the parable given in Chapter One will make an Dhamma are equally rare. This, however, is no index to its degree of attempt to prove their worth in the nine chapters that follow Þ the relevance to modern times. The 'darkness' of near-obscurity in last of which forms the Epilogue. The illusory nature of which the Sutta finds itself today is probably due to its terseness consciousness will be discussed in the contexts of the doctrinal 1 and its resemblance to the unfamiliar tetralemma. To the categories known as khandha (aggregates), àyatana (spheres), superficial reader the Sutta presents a mosaic of dry phrases and a dhàtu (elements) and paticca-samuppàda (Dependent Arising). set of statements that go against the grain. But beneath that dryness These chapters will regularly draw upon the 'well-preached and that strangeness in formulation there lie vast resources for a Dhamma word' (dhamma pada§ sudesita§) scattered throughout perennial philosophy. The Sutta brings out some striking features the Suttas, putting them together Þ as far as possible Þ into a of the epistemology of , the implications of which garland of flowers.1 All along, similes and analogies, both canonical would go a long way in clearing up the muddle that exists in the and modern, will illustrate the relevant facts, for, 'even with the help fields of philosophical and psychological research even in this of a simile some intelligent men here comprehend the meaning of modern age. what is said.'2 Bhikkhu ¥àõananda Mode of Presentation Island Hermitage In order to prepare the mind of the reader for a proper Dodanduwa, Sri Lanka appreciation of the Kàlakàràma Sutta, Chapter One will treat October, 1972

1. : catuùkoñi; the Buddhist logic of four alternatives (affirmative, negative, both affirmative and negative, neither . 1. The allusion is to vv. 44, 45 of the Dhp. . . . nor). See the text of the Sutta. (Ed.) 2. See D. II 324, M I 384.

2 3 Chapter I

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS THE MAGIC-SHOWÞA PROLOGUE

" ...... Suppose, monks, a magician or a magician's apprentice should hold a magic-show at the four cross-roads; and a keen-sighted A. Anguttara Nikàya 1 AA. Anguttara Nikàya Commentary man should see it, ponder over it and reflect on it radically. Even as he sees it, ponders over it and reflects on it radically, he would find it D. Dãgha Nikàya empty; he would find it hollow; he would find it void of essence. DA. Dãgha Nikàya Commentary What essence, monks, could there be in a magic show? Dhp. DhpA. Dhammapada Commentary Even so, monks, whatever consciousness Þ be it past, future or DPP. Dictionary of Pàli Proper Names present, in oneself or external, gross or subtle, inferior or superior, Itiv. far or near Þ a monk sees it, ponders over it and reflects on it M. Majjhima Nikàya radically. And even as he sees it, ponders over it and reflects on it PTS. Pàli Text Society (ed). radically, he would find it empty; he would find it hollow; he would S. Sa§yutta Nikàya find it void of essence. What essence, monks, could there be in a SA. Sa§yutta Nikàya Commentary consciousness ?2 ...... ” SHB. Simon Hewavitarana Bequest (ed.) Sn. Sutta Nipàta Form is like a mass of foam Thag. Theragàthà And feelingÞbut an airy bubble. Ud. Udàna Perception is like a mirage And formations a plantain tree.

Consciousness is a magic-show, A juggler's trick entire. All these similes were made known By the 'Kinsman-of-the-Sun.3 S. III 142. 1. i.e. yoniso manasikàra Þ lit: 'reflection by way of source or matrix.' 2. cf. “Impermanent, O monks are sense-pleasures; they are hollow, false and delusive; they are conjurors' tricks, O monks, Þtricks which make the fools prattle.” M. II 261. âne¤jasappàya S. 3. âdiccabandhu' : an epithet of the Buddha.

4 5 The famous magician whose miraculous performances you have Truly, a strange admixture of tragedy and comedy which you thoroughly enjoyed on many an occasion, is back again in your could have enjoyed instead of the magic-show, if not for the fact that town. The news of his arrival has spread far and wide, and eager you yourself were in that same sorry plight on many a previous crowds are now making for the large hall where he is due to perform occasion. Moved by compassion for this frenzied crowd, you almost today. You too buy a ticket and manage to enter the hall. There is frown on the magician as he chuckles with a sinister grin at every already a scramble for seats, but you are not keen on securing one, applause from his admirers. "How is it," you wonder, "that I have for you have entered with a different purpose in mind. You have had been deceived so long by this crook of a magician ?" You are fed up a bright idea to outwit the magician Þ to play a trick on him with all this and swear to yourself Þ "Never will I waste my time and yourself. So you cut your way through the thronging crowds and money on such empty shows, Nev-ver." stealthily creep into some concealed corner of the stage. The show ends. Crowds are now making for the exit. You too slip The magician enters the stage through the dark curtains, clad in out of your hiding place unseen, and mingle with them. Once his pitchy black suit. Black boxes containing his secret stock-in- outside, you spot a friend of yours whom you know as a keen admirer trade are also now on the stage. The performance starts and from of this magician. Not wishing to embarrass him with news of your your point of vantage you watch. And as you watch with sharp eyes unusual experience, you try to avoid him, but you are too late. Soon every movement of the magician, you now begin to discover, one you find yourself listening to a vivid commentary on the magic after the other, the secrets behind those 'breath taking' miracles of performance. Your friend is now reliving those moments of the your favourite magician. The hidden holes and false bottoms in his 'bliss-of-ignorance' which he had just been enjoying. But before magic boxes, the counterfeits and secret pockets, the hidden strings long he discovers that you are mild and reserved today, and wonders and buttons that are pulled and pressed under the cover of the frantic how you could be so, after such a marvellous show. waving of his magic-wand. Very soon you see through his bag of wily tricks so well, that you are able to discover his next 'surprise' "Why? You were in the same hall all this time, weren't you?” well in advance. Since you can now anticipate his 'surprises' they no "Yes, I was." longer surprise you. His 'tricks' no longer deceive you. His 'magic' "Then, were you sleeping?" has lost its magic for you. It no longer kindles your imagination as it "Oh! No." used to do in the past. The magician's 'hocus-pocus' and 'abracadabra' and his magic-wand now suggest nothing to you Þ for "You weren't watching closely, I suppose." you know them now for what they are, that is : 'meaningless'. The "No, no, I was watching it alright, may be I was watching whole affair has now turned out to be an empty-show, one vast hoax too closely." Þ a treachery. "You say you were watching, but you don't seem to have seen the show." In utter disgust, you turn away from it to take a peep at the "No, I saw it. In fact I saw it so well that I missed the show!” audience below. And what a sight ! A sea of craned necks Þ eyes that gaze in blind admiration; mouths that gape in dumb appreciation; the 'Ah!'s and 'Oh!'s and whistles of speechless amazement.

6 7 If I were to say : 'Monks, whatsoever in the world . . . . of gods and Chapter II men Þ whatsoever is seen . . . . . by the mind Þ all that I do not know' Þ it would be a falsehood in me.1 If I were to say : 'I both KâLAKâRâMA SUTTA know it and know it not' Þ that too would be a falsehood in me. If I were to say : 'I neither know it nor am ignorant of it' Þ it would be a At one time the Exalted One was staying at Sàketa in Kàlaka's fault in me.2 monastery. There the Exalted One addressed the monks, saying; "Monks." "Revered Sir," replied those monks in assent. The Exalted Thus, monks, a Tathàgata does not conceive3 of a visible One said: 1. This rendering is in accordance with the reading 'na jànàmi' "Monks, whatsoever in the world with its gods, Màras and found in the Chaññha Saõgãti edition. Enquiries have revealed Brahmas, among the progeny consisting of recluses and brahmins, that it conforms to the Mandalay Slabs. The P.T.S edition, as 1 gods and men Þ whatsoever is seen, heard, sensed, cognized, well as some Sinhala script editions, gives 'jànàmi', omitting attained, sought after and pondered over by the mind Þ all that do I the negative particle, but this is unlikely, as it contradicts the know. Monks, whatsoever in the world ...... of gods and men Þ Buddha's own statement in the preceding para. The initial whatsoever is seen, ...... by the mind Þ that have I fully declaration 'all that do I know' (tamahaü jànàmi) is reinforced 2 understood; all that is known to the Tathàgata, but the Tathàgata has by what follows: 'that have I fully inderstood' (tamaha§ 3 not taken his stand upon it. abbha¤¤àsi§), 'all that is known to the Tathàgata (ta§ tathàgatassa vidita§). A significant reservation has also been 1. muta' : sensations arising from taste, touch and smell. added: 'but the Tathàgata has not taken his stand upon it' (ta§ 2. tathàgato na upàtthàsi). Hence the reading 'jànàmi' would According to the Commentary (AA.) 'the plane of omniscience' lead to a contradiction: 'If I were to say ...... all that do I (sabba¤¤utabhåmi) has been made known by the three phrases: know ...... it would be a falsehood in me.' The variant 'all that do I know,' 'that have I fully understood' and 'all that is reading 'na jànàmi' on the other hand, suggests itself as the known to the Tathàgata.' second alternative of the tetralemma, followed as it is by the 3. Comm: 'The Tathàgata does not take his stand upon, or third and fourth alternatives. The relevance of these three approach by way of craving or views. The Exalted One sees a alternatives to the context is reflected in that reservation form with the eye, but in him there is no desire and lust (for it); referred to above. he is well released in mind. The Exalted One hears a sound with 2. The phrases: 'it would be a falsehood in me,' 'that too would be the ear ...... smells an odour with the nose . . . . . tastes a flavour a falsehood in me,' 'it would be a fault in me,' are said to with the tongue ...... touches a tangible with the body ...... indicate the 'plane of ' (saccabhåmi). cognizes an idea with the mind, but in him there is no desire- and-lust; he is well released in mind (S. IV 164) Þ hence was it 3. Na ma¤¤ati: Ma¤¤anà marks that stage in sense perception said that the Tathàgata takes no stand upon it. It should be when one egotistically imagines or fancies a perceived 'thing' understood that by this phrase the plane of the Influx-free to be out there in its own right. It is a fissure in the perceptual (khãõàsavabhåmi) is made known.' situation which results in a subject-object dichotomy perpetuating the conceit : 'I' and 'mine'.

8 9 thing as apart from sight;1 he does not conceive of an unseen;2 he He does not conceive of an audible thing as apart from hearing; does not conceive of a 'thing-worth-seeing';3 he does not conceive he does not conceive of an unheard; he does not conceive of a about a seer.4 'thing-worth-hearing'; he does not conceive about a hearer. He does not conceive of a thing to be sensed as apart from

1. sensation; he does not conceive of an unsensed; he does not The Comm. (AA. SHB. 519) takes the words `daññhà daññhabba§' conceive of a 'thing-worth-sensing'; he does not conceive about one in the text to mean: `having seen, should be known' and explains who senses. the following words 'diññha§ na ma¤¤ati' as a separate phrase meaning that the Tathàgata does not entertain any cravings, He does not conceive of a cognizable thing as apart from conceits or views, thinking: 'I am seeing that which has been seen cognition; he does not conceive of an uncognized; he does not by the people.' It applies the same mode of explanation conceive of a 'thing-worth-cognizing'; he does not conceive about throughout. one who cognizes. It is perhaps more plausible to explain daññhà or diññhà (vl. In Thus, monks, the Tathàgata being such-like in regard to all Burmese MSS; see A. II 25 fn. 3) as an ablative form of the past phenomena seen, heard, sensed and cognized, is 'Such'. Moreover, participle giving the sense : 'as apart from sight'; and daññhabba§ than he who is 'Such', there is none other greater or more excellent, I diññha§ taken together would mean : 'a visible thing'. So also the declare.1 other three corresponding terms: sutà, mutà and vi¤¤àtà. The Buddha Jayanthi Tipitaka Series (No. 19, Sinhalese script) Whatever is seen, heard, sensed or clung to, recognizes this reading but follows the Comm. in rendering them is esteemed as truth by other folk, ,2 as absolutives. The Chaññha Sangãti Pitaka edition (Burmese Midst those who are entrenched in their own views script) as well as the P.T.S edition, has the absolutive form: sutvà, being 'Such' I hold none as true or false. mutvà and vi¤¤àtvà Þ which is probably a re-correction following the commentarial explanation. 2. adiññha§ na ma¤¤ati: According to the Comm. this means that the Tathàgata does not fancy (due to craving etc.) he is seeing lose their object-status they do not reflect a 'seer' on the something which has not been seen by the people. But the subjective side. expression seems to imply just the opposite. It brings out the idea These four modes of conceiving represent 'the plane of voidness' (su¤¤atàbhåmi). behind the statement: “If I were to say : 'Monks, whatsoever in the 1. world . . . of . . . gods and men Þ whatsoever is seen . . . by the tàdi: `Such' or `Such-like'. An epithet of the Emancipated One mind Þ all that I do not know,' it would be a falsehood in me.” signifying his supreme detachment. This declaration indicates 3. the plane of the `Such One' (tàdibhåmi). daññhabba§ na ma¤¤ati: Here the full gerundival sense of the 2. tesu ...... sayasa§vutesu : The Comm. says : `among those verb is evident. The Tathàgata does not consider any of those who are of (divers) views and who had grasped them having 'sights' that people cherish, as 'worth-while seeing' Þ in the themselves recollected and cherished those view-points'. The highest sense. He does not see anything substantial in them. 4. expression rather conveys the sense of self-opinionatedness daññhàra§ na ma¤¤ati: The Tathàgata does not entertain due to philosophical in-breeding, and may be rendered by any conceit of being the agent behind seeing. When sights `among those who are restricted (sa§vuta) to their own views'.

10 11 This barb I beheld, well in advance,1 whereon mankind is hooked, impaled, Chapter III 'I know, I see `tis verily so' 2 Þ no such clinging for the Tathàgatas. SIGN AND SIGNIFICANCE IN SENSE PERCEPTION

A clue to the difficulties experienced by the Buddha in coming to terms with the world, may be found in your own unusual experience at the magic-show. To all intents and purposes you saw the magic performance. Yet, as your friend has proved to you, there are difficulties involved in any unreserved affirmation or denial. The position of a Tathàgata who has fully comprehended the magical illusion that is consciousness, is somewhat similar. He too has seen all the magical performances in the form of sense data enacted on the stage of consciousness. And yet he is aware of the limitations in any categorical affirmation or negation. Whereas the worldling is wont `to take his stand upon' the he has `grasped', the Tathàgata regards that tendency as a 'barb' inspite of (or because of) the fact that he has `fully understood'.1 In other

1. Note that the raison d'etre for the tetralemma type of formulation is this very detached attitude of the Buddha (`I know, I see `tis verily so' Þ no such clinging for the Tathgàtas). If not for the reservation attached to the first alternative, he could have 1. eta¤ca salla§ patigacca disvà: `Having seen this barb well in stopped at the second alternative, for a categorical affirmative advance' Þ explained by the Comm. as the barb of views which requires only a categorical negation of the opposite standpoint. the Buddha saw in advance, at the foot of the . About the Kàlakàràma Sutta one could say, as in the case of a magic-show, that `there-is-more-in-it-than-meets-the-eye'. 2. jànàmi passàmi tatheva eta§ : A phrase often cited in the Pàli Normally, in a tetralemma the first alternative is negated. Here it Canon as representing the stamp of dogmatism characteristic of is affirmed, but not categorically, for a reservation has been speculative views. It is on a par with the dogmatic assertion: made. The added emphasis serves more or less a rhetorical `idameva sacca§ moghama¤¤a§' (`this alone is true, all else is purpose, showing that he not only knows what the world knows false') which accompanies the formulation of the ten but has grown `wiser'. The peculiarity in this formulation is a `unexplained points' (avyàkatavatthåni). flashback to the Målapariyàya Sutta (M1) since the significance

1 2 13 words, he has seen the magic-show so well as to `miss the show' noumenon. Though analysis fails to reveal any such real essence, a from the worlding's standpoint. `Ding-an-sich' under the ever-receding layers of qualities and attributes,1 they would still maintain that, after all, there could not The question of `seeing what-is-shown', brings us to the possibly be an attribute without a substance Þ a quality without a relationship between sign and significance. Sense-perception at all `thing' that it 'qualifies'. levels relies largely on signs. This statement might even appear as a According to the Kàlakàràma Sutta, a Tathàgata does not truism since the Pàli word sa¤¤à (Skt. sa§j¤à) denotes perception conceive of a visible thing as apart from sight or an audible thing as as well as 'sign', 'symbol', 'mark' or 'token'. It is due to the processes apart from hearing or a thing to be sensed as apart from sensation or of grasping and recognition implicit in sense-perception that the a cognizable thing as apart from cognition. Furthermore, as the sign has come to play such an important part in it. Grasping Þ be it Suttas often make it clear, all percepts as such are to be regarded as physical or mental Þ can at best be merely a symbolical affair. The mere signs (sa¤¤à, nimitta).2 Hence while the worldling says that actual point of contact is superficial and localized, but it somehow he perceives `things' with the help of signs, the Tathàgata says that props up the conceit of grasping. Recognition, too, is possible only all we perceive are mere signs. Sights, sounds, smells, tastes, within arbitrarily circumscribed limits. The law of touches and ideas are, all of them, signs which consciousness is persistently undermining it, but still a conceit of recognition is pursues. But still the question may be asked; “What do these signs maintained by progressively ignoring the fact of change. Thus both signify ?” “Things, of course” Þ the Tathàgata would reply. processes are kept up with the help of signs and symbols. 'Things', however, are not those that the worldling has in mind when he seeks an answer to this question. Lust, hatred and delusion are What do signs signify ? “Things of course” Þ the less the `things' which,according to the teaching of the Tathàgata are sophisticated would readily answer. As far as common sense goes, signified by all sense-percepts. "Lust, friend, is a something, hatred signs presumably stand for the 'things' we perceive with their aid. is a something, delusion is a something." ("Ràgo kho àvuso And the `things' are those forms we see, the sounds we hear, the ki¤cano, doso ki¤cano, moho ki¤cano” Þ M I 298. MahàVedalla scents we smell, the flavours we taste, the objects we touch and the S.) “Lust, friends is something significative, hatred is something ideas we cognize. The more sophisticated would, however, prefer to significative, delusion is something significative"("Ràgo kho be more precise. They would take up the position that behind those àvuso nimittakaraõo, doso nimittakaraõo, moho nimittakaraõo" changing attributes that we perceive with our imperfect sense- Þ ibid.). apparatus, there lies an unchanging substance, an essence, a The pronouncement that all sense-percepts are signs and that the `things' they signify are lust, hatred and delusion, might appear, at first sight, a not-too-happy blend of philosophy and . But there are deeper implications of the additional emphasis conveyed by the word abbha¤¤àsi§ is involved. It is a fact often overlooked by the metaphysician distinctly revealed there by the use of the word abhijànàti, while that the reality attributed to sense-data is necessarily the reservation made regarding the first alternative, finds its parallel there in the expression na ma¤¤ati Þ an expression connected with their evocative power, that is, their ability to recurring in that exegetical type of disquisition which produce effects. The reality of a thing is usually registered immediately follows the tetralemma in the Kàlakàràma Sutta. 1. `Perception is like a mirage' - See above, ch. I. 2. See S. III 10. Hàliddakàni S.

1 4 15 in terms of its impact on the experiential side. This is the acid test Chapter IV which an object is required to undergo to prove its existence in the Court of Reality. In the reference to materiality as `manifestative DEPENDENT ARISING Þ a via - media and resistance' (sanidassana Þ sappañigha§ råpa§ Þ D. III 217, Sangiti S.) the validity of this test seems to have been hinted The Buddha's insight into the backstage workings of the magic- at. Now, the `objects' of sense which we grasp and recognize as show of consciousness has revealed to him the almost unbridgeable existing out-there, derive their object-status from their impact or gulf that exists between his transcendental level of experience and evocative power. Their ability to produce effects in the form of the worldling's level of sense-experience. "Whatever, monks, that sense-reaction is generally taken to be the criterion of their reality. has been pondered over as truth by the world with its gods and Sense-objects are therefore signs which have become significant in Màras, by the progeny consisting of recluses and brahmins, gods and themselves owing to our ignorance that their significance depends men, that has been well discerned as untruth by the noble ones, as it on the psychological mainsprings of lust, hatred and delusion. This, really is, with right wisdom' Þ this is one mode of reflection. 'And in other words, is a result of reasoning from the wrong end (ayoniso whatever, monks, that has been pondered over as untruth by the manasikàra) which leads both the philosopher and the scientist world with its gods and Màras . . . . that has been well discerned as alike into a topsy-turvydom of endless theorising. truth by the noble ones, as it really is, with right wisdom' - this is the second mode of reflection...... "(Sn. p. 147. Dvayatànupassanà Some reflection on your experiences at the magic-show might S.). “Monk, that which is of a deluding nature is indeed false and that also give you an insight into the truth of the above pronouncement. is the truth, namely, Nibbàna which is of a non-deluding nature . . . . To the audience steeped in the bliss of ignorance, the magic-show For, monk, this is the highest truth, namely the non-delusive was full of significance, whatever you may say to the contrary. To Nibbàna.” (M. III 245. Dhàtuvibhaïga S.). Despite such them, all the articles and artifices employed by the magician Þ declarations by the Buddha of the wide disparity between the even the `hocus-pocus', the `abracadabra' and the waving of the worldling's concept of truth and that of the noble ones, we find the magic-wand Þ had a `reality' in the sense of their evocative power. Kàlakàràma Sutta attributing to the Buddha himself a statement The craned necks, the gazing eyes and gaping mouths bore which seems to contradict those declarations. It says that the inarticulate testimony to it. The 'Ah!'s and 'Oh!'s and whistles also Tathàgata does not hold as true or false 'whatever is seen, heard, expressed Þ still inarticulately Þ the `reality' of the magic-show. sensed or clung to and is esteemed as truth by other folk.' How can And last, but not least, that vivid commentary on the magic one resolve this paradox ? performance you had occasion to listen to soon after the show, was the fully articulate expression of the `reality' of the bag of wily Once again, you may recollect your unusual experience at the tricks presented by the shrewd magician. Behind all those gestures, magic-show.In that moment of compassion for the frenzied exclamations and descriptions evoked by the 'things' seen at the crowd applauding the magician, you had stumbled upon a wider magic-show, you would not have failed to see the things that really concept of truth. It is the understanding of the principle of were there Þ i.e. attachment, aversion and delusion. relativity behind the concept of truth. The realization that anyone placed in a similar situation would behave as that crowd, had a mellowing effect on your sense of judgment. Given the same

1 6 17 measure of ignorance as to the secrets of the magician, given the “From the complete fading away and cessation of that very same psychological impulses of greed and hate, anyone would take ignorance, there comes to be the cessation of formations; from the up such a standpoint as that frenzied crowd and it is probably the cessation of formations, the cessation of consciousness; from the same conviction that caused some embarrassment and hesitation in cessation of consciousness, the cessation of name-and-form; from the you in the course of that conversation with your friend. The same cessation of name-and-form, the cessation of the six sense-spheres; magic-show was seen in two different perspectives. While the from the cessation of the six sense-spheres, the cessation of contact; audience saw what the magician performed, you from your point of from the cessation of contact, the cessation of feeling; from the vantage saw how he performed. Thus there were actually two levels cessation of feeling, the cessation of craving; from the cessation of of experience Þ one arising out of ignorance, the other out of craving, the cessation of grasping; from the cessation of grasping; the knowledge. Each level carried with it its own conception of bliss, its cessation of becoming; from the cessation of becoming, the own reactions and convictions. The former tended towards a cessation of birth. From the cessation of birth, decay-and-death, tumultuous bliss of ignorance; the latter towards a bliss of sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair cease. Such is the appeasement born of understanding. In the Buddhist conception of ceasing o f th is entire mass of s uffering.” (M.I II.B ahudhàtuka S.) t h e ' k n owl e d ge - a n d -v i s i o n - o f - t h i n g s - a s - t h ey- a re' (yathàbhåta¤àõa-dassana) both levels of experience find a place. This law of Dependent Arising which embraces the entire gamut of Its content is not any particular theory or a definite body of experience ranging from that of the worldling to the Arahant's, knowledge, but a norm which analyses and lays bare the very could be applied even to our problem of the magic-show. While the structure of experience, This is none other than the law of show was going on, if anyone had asked you and your friend: “Is Dependent Arising (pañicca-samuppàda), which in its direct order there any magic?”, he might have received two contradictory accounts for the former level of experience while recognizing at the answers. Since, by then, the magic had lost its magic for you, you same time the latter as well by its formulation in reverse order. would have replied: “There is no magic,” but your friend had the right to say: "There is," The two answers would be contradictory if "This being, this comes to be; with the arising of this understood in an absolute sense and asserted dogmatically without this arises. reference to the question of standpoint. The law of Dependent This not being, this does not come to be; with the Arising resolves the above contradiction by avoiding the two cessation of this, this ceases. extremes 'Is' and 'Is not' with its wise proviso: 'It depends.' Given the ignorance of the magician's tricks, formations (i.e. gestures, "That is to say : From ignorance as condition (arise) formations; exclamations, imaginations) come to be; depending on these from formations as condition (arises) consciousness; from formations, the consciousness of the magic-show comes to be; consciousness . . . . . name-and-form, from name-and-form . . . . . the dependent on this consciousness is 'name-and-form' pertaining to six sense-spheres; from the six sense-spheres ...... contact; from the World of Magic (i.e. feeling, perception, intention, contact and contact ...... feeling; from feeling . . . . craving; from craving . . . . . attention constituting the 'name' aspect and the four primaries of grasping; from grasping . . . . . becoming; from becoming ...... solidity, liquidity, heat and air together with the derivative concept birth; from birth as condition arise decay-and-death, sorrow, of form making up the 'form' aspect of the World of Magic); lamentation, pain, grief and despair. Such is the arising of this entire depending on this 'name-and-form' which comprehends the entire mass of suffering. stock-in-trade of the magician, the six sense-spheres of the deluded audience are kept all agog with curiosity; depending on these sense- spheres there arise appropriate impressions of the marvellous World

1 8 19 of Magic; conditioned by such impressions feelings of exhilaration In the context of the law of Dependent Arising, therefore, the arise; from these feelings there develops a craving for the unusual statement of the Kàlakàràma Sutta appears to be quite perpetuation of that very exhilaration; in response to that craving, legitimate. To take up Þ as the worldling does Þ a standpoint with there comes to be a grasping after the magic-performances; from regard to 'whatever is seen, heard, sensed, cognized, attained, that grasping there results a chimerical existence in a 'world-of sought after and pondered over by the mind' is alien to the spirit magic' and the audience, thus spell-bound, finds itself 'born', as it behind this comprehensive psychological principle. The Buddha were, into a 'wonderland'. This 'birth', however, is short-lived. The realized that all worldly theories and viewpoints are but 'individual marvellous magic-show too, 'like all good things', comes to an end ' in which people are severally entrenched (paccekasaccesu and that is its decay-and-death. puthå niviññhà Þ Sn. v. 824). Dogmatic theories asserted as The above illustration would have made it clear that the existence absolute truths were regarded by him as a 'barb' on which 'mankind of the magic can neither be affirmed nor denied absolutely. And is hooked and impaled.' The worldly concepts of truth and what is true of the magic is true of all phenomena comprising the falsehood have a questionable background. They are but the magic-show of consciousness. The fact that existence is a relative outcome of sense-perception and are beaten out on the anvil of concept is often overlooked by the worldling. Says the Buddha: logic in the process of moulding this or that theory. “There exist no "This world, Kaccàyana, usually bases (its views) on two things: on divers truths which in the world are eternal, apart from perception. existence and non-existence. Now, he who with right insight sees the Having formulated theories in accordance with logic, they have arising of the world as it really is, does not hold with the non- arrived at the twofold categories called 'the true' and 'the existence of the world. And he who with right insight sees the false.”(Sn. v. 886). The medley of speculative theories were but passing away of the world as it really is, does not hold with the partial truths in so far as they originated from individual existence of the world. The world, for the most part, is given to experience coloured by a good deal of prejudice. The approaching, grasping, entering into and getting entangled (as Aññhakavagga of the Sutta Nipàta, in particular, analyses the regards views). Whoever does not approach, grasp and take his stand psychology behind the worldling's value judgements as to truth upon that proclivity towards approaching and grasping, that mental and falsehood. Led by prejudice,1 he develops a concept of truth standpoint Þ namely, the thought: 'This is my soul' Þ he knows that out of his viewpoint and tests its validity in debate, where the what arises is just suffering and what ceases is just suffering. Thus triple-conceit, 'equal', 'superior' and 'inferior,' decides the issue.2 he is not in doubt, is not perplexed and herein he has knowledge that The Buddha points out that if victory in debate is the criterion, is not dependent on another. Thus far, Kaccàyana, he has right view. truth becomes a mere matter of opinion. “Not indeed do I say that 'Everything exists,' this is one extreme. 'Nothing exists,' this is the this is valid whereby they mutually called each other fools. They other extreme. Not approaching either of those extremes, the consider their own dogmatic view as the truth; hence do they call Tathàgata teaches the Dhamma by the : From ignorance the other a fool” (Sn. v. 882). as condition formations come to be; from formations as condition 1. `Chandànunãto ruciyà niviññho'Þ Sn. v. 781. `Led by desire consciousness comes to be . . . Such is the arising of this entire mass and possessed by inclinations'. of suffering. From the complete fading away and cessation of that very ignorance, there comes to be the cessation of formations; from 2. See Guhaññhaka, Duññhaññhaka, Suddhaññhaka, the cessation of formations, the cessation of consciousness . . . . . Paramaññhaka, Pasåra, Màgandiya, Kalahavivàda, Such is the cessation of this entire mass of suffering." Þ S. II. 17. CålaViyåha and MahàViyåha Suttas of the Aññhaka Vagga. Kaccàyanagotta S.

2 0 2 1 The self-opinionatedness on which debates thrive is sometimes of knowledge who contradict each other, which one has spoken the the result of an alleged spiritual experience. And then it would truth and which one the falsehood?" Brahmins, I will preach to you come out in a dogmatic tone: 'I know, I see, it is verily so' (jànàmi the Dhamma. Listen attentively ...... " And he did preach it, passàmi tatheva eta§ - Sn. v 908. See above note 2, p. 12). If the pointing out, in the course of it, that in the terminology of the noble opponent too is prompted by such an experience which has led him ones, 'the world' is defined as the five strands of sense-pleasures to a different conclusion, we get an irreconcilable conflict, a classic and that the 'end of the world' is Arahantship itself. instance of which is found in the following words of two Brahmin sophists: One might wonder why the Buddha set aside such a clear-cut question. For one thing, 'the world', according to the Buddha, had “Påraõa Kassapa, O sire Gotama, claims to be omniscient and to be redefined, so as to bring out its phenomenal nature. But there all-seeing; he claims to have perfect knowledge and vision saying : is probably another reason. Both worthies involved in this contest 'While walking, standing, sleeping and lying awake, knowledge and for supremacy claimed omniscience, but whereas the former saw vision is ever-present to me.' And he has declared: 'I abide knowing 'an infinite world with a infinite knowledge' the latter saw 'a finite and seeing an infinite world with an infinite knowledge.' But world with a finite knowledge'.1 Now, the former could, within the Gotama, this Nigaõtha Nàthaputta too, claims to be omniscient and bounds of logic, point out a flaw in the latter's position: “You are all-seeing; he too claims to have perfect knowledge and vision seeing a finite world because your knowledge is limited (i.e. saying: 'While walking, standing, sleeping and lying awake, finite).” The latter too can rejoin, with equal justification: “But you knowledge and vision is ever present to me.' And he has declared: 'I are seeing an infinite world because your knowledge lacks finality abide knowing and seeing a finite world with a finite knowledge.' (i.e. infinite).” In other words, while the former can regard the Out of these two professors of knowledge, sire Gotama, who latter's knowledge as imperfect on the ground that he cannot see contradict each other, which one has spoken the truth and which one beyond what he claims to be 'the end-of-the world', the latter can the falsehood ?” Þ A. IV. 428 f. hold the former's knowledge to be imperfect, saying that 'the end- of-world' is beyond its range. The Buddha, however, refuses to act as arbiter in this conflict of viewpoints. Instead, he says: "Enough O Brahmins, let This is the kind of circularity in argument often found in that be.1 Let be your question: Out of these two professors speculative views put forward by worldly philosophers.2 Those who held on to them dogmatically, are compared to the blind men 1. The expression `tiññhatetam' indicates that the question who fell out and came to blows when their individual views on belongs to the type called ñhapanãya-pa¤ha (i.e. `questions that what an elephant looks like clashed with each other (Ud. 66 ff.). should be set aside') Þ one of the four types into which all questions are classified by the Buddha, the other three being: eka§savyàkaranãya (`questions which admit of a categorical reply') pañipucchàvyàkaranãya (`those that need counter- 1. questioning'), and vibhajjavyàkaranãya ('those requiring an The text shows a bewildering number of variant readings, analytical statement'). A set of ten questions thus set aside by `mutually contradicting each other'. Perhaps the interpretation him are technically called avyàkatavatthåni (`unexplained attempted here will provide a clue to the correct reading as to points') and the two viewpoints appear there too, in the the two view points in question. following form : `Is the world finite ? Is the world infinite ?' 2. See also M. II. 32 ff. CålaSakuludàyi S.

2 2 23 There is, however, one truth knowing which people would not Chapter V dispute,1 and that is the very synoptic understanding of the arising, the passing-away, the satisfaction, the misery and the 'stepping-out' THE VORTICAL INTERPLAY Þ Consciousness versus in regard to that sense-experience on which all speculative theories Name-and-form are founded. "And that, monks, the Tathàgata understands thus: 'These viewpoints thus taken up, thus laid hold of, will have such The most outstanding contribution made by the Law of and such consequences, will lead to such and such future states of Dependent Arising to the ethical, psychological and philosophical existence. That the Tathàgata understands ; and he understands enquiries of all times, is the revelation that there is a vortex hidden even beyond that. But that understanding he does not grasp ; and beneath the flux of all mental life. Perpetually supporting each not grasping, he has, within himself, known the appeasement other and re-vitalising each other as they go doting round and (nibbuti). Having known, as they really are, the arising, the round, 'consciousness' and 'name-and-form' make up the sa§sàric passing-away, the satisfaction, the misery and the 'stepping-out' in vortex which is the rallying point of all existence. regard to feelings, monks, released without grasping is the Tathàgata" (D. I 21 ff. Brahmajàla S.). I. “Just as if, friend, two bundles of reeds were to stand one supporting the other, even so consciousness is dependent on name- and-form and name-and-form is dependent on consciousness; and the six sense-spheres on name-and-form, contact on the six sense- spheres, feeling on contact, craving on feeling, grasping on craving, becoming on grasping, birth on becoming and decay- and-death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair are dependent on birth. Thus is the arising of this entire mass of suffering. But, friend, if one of those two bundles of reeds is drawn out, the other one would fall down, and if the latter is drawn out the former one will fall down. Even so, friend, with the cessation of name-and-form, consciousness ceases; with the cessation of consciousness, name-and-form ceases; with the cessation of name-and-form, the six sense-spheres cease . . . . . Thus comes to be the cessation of this entire mass of suffering.”(S. II. 114. Na¯akalàpiya§)

II "This consciousness turns back from name-and-form, it 1. `Eka§ hi sacca§ na dutãyam atthi does not go beyond. In so far can one be born or grow old or Yasmi§ pajà no vivade pajàna§' Þ Sn. v. 884 die or pass away or reappear, in so far as this is, to wit: consciousness is dependent on name-and-form, name-and-form `For the truth is one and there is no second, having an insight into which people would not enter into dispute.'

2 4 2 5 on consciousness, the six sense-spheres on name-and-form ...... III. "In so far only, ânanda, can one be born or grow old, or die Thus comes to be the arising of this entire mass of suffering"1 (D. II. or pass away or reappear, in so far only is there any pathway for 32 Mahàpadàna S.). verbal expression, in so far only is there any pathway for terminology, in so far only is there any pathway for designations, in 1. The traditional `three-life' interpretation of the formula of so far only is the range of wisdom, in so far only is the round (of pañicca samuppàda which refers the first two links to a past sa§sàric life) kept going for there to be any designation of the existence, perceives a difficulty here: “ 'When there is name- conditions of this existence; that is to say, name-and-form together and-form, there is consciousness' : here it should also have with consciousness." (D. II 63f. Mahà Nidàna S.) been mentioned that consciousness is there when formations are there and that formations are there when ignorance is there. In this interplay between the two counterparts, consciousness 1 But both of them have not been taken in here. Hence ignorance seems to represent actuality while name-and-form stands for and formations represent the past existence. This insight does potentiality. 'Name-and-form' when it 'grows up' (see D. II 63.) not connect itself with them, for the Great Being is concerned deriving vitality from consciousness, gives rise to the infra- with the present. Is it not a fact that so long as ignorance and structure of the six sense-bases or spheres, which undergo formations remain unrecognized one cannot become a bifurcation as 'internal' (ajjhattika) and 'external' (bàhira) due to Buddha? True, one cannot. But at this point the exposition of the discriminative function of consciousness. The ensuing Dependent Arising has to be given in detail to show that they processes of contact, feeling, craving, grasping and becoming (i.e. the aforesaid two links) were seen by him in the form of portray the springing up into life of those potentialities indicated (the three links) `becoming', `grasping' and `craving'. That by name-and-form. With 'becoming' () the vicious circle is exposition, however, has already been given in the complete and 'birth' is born carrying with it the unpleasant " (D.A.). prospects of decay-and-death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and This difficulty would not arise when we identify despair. The two links, ignorance and formations, though they are consciousness and name-and-form as the vortex of all sa§sàric not mentioned in the above three passages, are nevertheless existence Þ past, present and future. Since it is `in so far only' implicit, for the murk of ignorance provides the background for that there is the range of wisdom (ettàvatà pa¤¤àvacara§), this interplay while formations directly manifest themselves as the there is no possibility of going beyond. It is the very ignorance prelude to, and the motive force behind, the narcissistic interplay. of this vortex that constitutes the first link in the formula and the deluded vortical interplay arising out of it, is the second By way of illustration, we may, for a moment, turn to a game link (i.e. formations). With the proper understanding of this situation the meaningless interplay is made to cease. Thus of cricket. Here consciousness recognizes the presence of two there is nothing actually missing in the Mahàpadàna Sutta. sides as a precondition for the game, while 'name-and-form' The law of Dependent Arising is a Noble Norm (ariyo ¤àyo) represents the rules, the procedure, and the paraphernalia which in all its twelve-linked completeness is well-seen and 1. well-penetrated through wisdom (pa¤¤àya sudiññho hoti "Feeling, perception, intention, contact, attention Þ these O suppañividdho) even by a Stream-winner (sotàpanna) who may friends, are called `name'. The four great elements and form not possess the knowledge of past lives. (See A. V. 184.) dependent on them Þ these, O friends, are called `form'." Þ M. I 53 Sammàdiññhi S.

26 27 of the game.1 The six sense-spheres which consciousness real, may be explained with reference to 'contact' (phassa) which is bifurcates into 'internal' and 'external' are the actual teams selected dependent on it. According to the Buddha, contact is itself a hybrid for the game. With contact, feeling, craving, grasping and manifesting traits proper to both groups designated as 'name' and becoming, the cricket-match is in full swing. And 'birth-decay- 'form'. The following disquisition on this particular aspect of the and-death' etc. more or less represent the inexorable vicissitudes of problem is likely to be of immense value to the modern the game. That all pathways for verbal expression, terminology psychologist and philosopher. and designation converge on the vortex of consciousness and name-and-form is also amply illustrated by this analogy, since the 1 significance of the game depends on one's being conscious of it as “ 'From name-and-form as condition, contact comes to be' : a cricket-match, with all its implications regarding the personnel, thus it has been said above. And that, ânanda, should be the paraphernalia and the rules involved. understood in this manner too, as to how from name-and-form as condition, contact arises. If, ânanda, all those modes, In the wider context of our samsàric existence, the vortical characteristics, signs and exponents by which the name-group interplay between consciousness and name-and-form manifests (nàmakàya) is designated were absent, would there be manifest itself as a kind of double-bind (jatà)-'a tangle within' and 'a tangle any verbal impression (adhivacanasamphasso) in the form-group without'.2 Consciousness as the subject always finds itself (råpakàye)?" confronted with 'name-and-form' as the object, depending on “There would not, Lord.” which it develops the concepts of resistance (pañigha) and form (råpasa¤¤à). An interplay follows which is as much comic as it is “If, ânanda all those modes, characteristics, signs and tragic in that it involves a petitio principii Þ an assertion of exponents by which the form-group is designated were absent, existence that is equivalent to 'begging the question'. would there be manifest any resistance-impression (pañighasamphasso) in the name-group ?” Since the criterion of reality of a thing is, as mentioned “There would not, Lord.” above (see Ch. III), the very impact it has on one's experiential side, the wordling's proneness to cling to 'name-and-form' as “And if ânanda all those modes, characteristics, signs and exponents by which there is a designation of both name-group and 1. Perhaps it will not be inapt to identify the five constituents of form-group were absent, would there be manifest either any `name' Þ i.e. i. contact, ii. feeling, iii. perception, iv. verbal-impression or any resistance-impression ?” intention and v. attention Þ with the following aspects of the “There would not, Lord.” game, respectively: i. competition, ii. elation, depression or boredom in the course of the game, iii. the scoreboard, iv. “And if, ânanda, all those modes, characteristics, signs and prospect of winning, v. watching the game. exponents by which there comes to be a designation of name-and- form were absent, would there be manifest any contact ?” `Form', in this connection, would consist of the personnel and the paraphernalia involved in the game. 1. The six sense-spheres are omitted here but their role is sufficiently implicit in this comprehensive treatment of contact. 2. `Anto jañà bahijañà Þ jañàya jañità pajà' Þ S. I. 13. Jañà S. Note that the six sense-spheres are often called: cha `A tangle within, a tangle without This world is entangled in a tangle.' phassàyatanàni.

2 8 29 “There would not, Lord.” impact or sense-reaction is primarily associated with the signs proper to the form group (pañigha-samphassa), and only “Wherefore, ânanda, this itself is the cause, this is the origin, secondarily and metaphorically, with those of the name-group. this is the condition, for contact, that is to say, name-and-form.” (adhivacanasamphassa). This complex character of name-and- form in relation to contact indicates that Buddhism does not Þ D. II. 62. Mahà Nidàna S. recognize a dichotomy between mind and matter. Instead, it reveals that mentality and materiality are inextricably interwoven into 'a The relevance of signs to this subject of contact is recognized tangle-within' and a 'tangle-without'. Name-and-form is seen to throughout this disquisition. Both the name-group and the form- play a dual role. In organic combination with consciousness, it is group derive their respective designations with the help of modes already found in the individual as implied by the expression characteristics, signs and exponents.' But the most extraordinary 'savi¤¤ànaka-kàya' ('the conscious-body'). This is the tangle fact about them is that their significance depends on each other Þ a within. As a thing to be measured with this 'conscious-body', curious reciprocity. A verbal-impression in regard to the form- name-and-form is also projected outside into signs (nimitta) in group is at all possible because there are those modes, need of interpretation or evaluation. The 'internal' sense-bases and characteristics etc. proper to the name-group. The concept of form the 'external' sense-bases both partake of name-and-form. The is established only when the constituents of the name-group (i.e. 'measuring-unit' and the thing measured thus presuppose each feeling, perception, intention, contact, attention) have sufficiently other, as one may infer from the following Sutta passages : 'experimented' with it. Even the so-called four great-elements or I. “ 'Name', friends, is one end, 'form' is the other end ; primaries are themselves subject to this test of validity without consciousness is in the middle; and craving is the seamstress, for it which they simply could not stand. Thus earth, water, fire and air, is craving that stitches it into the arising of this and that (form of) actually represent the experiences of solidity, liquidity, heat and existence . . . . ” Þ A. III 400. motion, in which the name-group plays its part. As 'elements' they are mere abstractions, but they come within the purview of contact II “The six internal sense-spheres are one end, the six as 'form' or 'matter'(råpa) in the guise of verbal-impression1 which external sense-spheres are the other end, consciousness is in the distinguishes between them according to the degree of middle; and craving is the seamstress ...... ” (ibid.) predominance of their respective qualities. The name-group, for its III. “For the fool, monks, cloaked by ignorance and tied to part, owes its validity to the modes, characteristics etc. proper to the craving, this body is wrought in this way: There is this body form-group. The notion of resistance or impact goes hand in hand (aya¤ceva kàyo) and name-and-form without (bahiddhà ca with the concept of form or matter, since the 'actual' impact (i.e. nàmaråpa§) Þ thus this pair. Because of the pair there is contact impact par excellence) as something that 'matters', is generally and just six spheres of sense.” Þ S. II 23f. associated with 'matter', ('Seeing is believing. but touch is the real thing!'). Hence feeling, perception, intention, contact and attention IV. “How, lord, does one know, how does one see, so that in find 'actual' objects in the world of matter. In other words, regard to both this conscious body (imasmi¤ca savi¤¤àõake kàye) and also all external signs (bahiddhà ca sabbanimittesu), the mind 1. "The four great elements, monk, are the cause, the four great has gone-away from notions of 'I' and 'mine' and from vain elements are the condition for the designation of the aggregate conceits, transcending all distinctions (vidhàsamatikkanta§), is at of form." Þ M. III. 17. MahàPuõõama S. peace and well released ?” Þ S. II 253.

3 0 31 In the context of these two 'tangles', any rigid dichotomy between 'mind' and 'matter' such as is envisaged by the worldly philosophers, the split in experience becomes sufficiently palpable as to call would appear to be an over-simplification of facts. Any attempt at forth the notion: 'I am'. “Where, friend, there is no feeling at all, solving the problem by taking up an exclusive idealistic or a realistic would there be any such notion as: 'I am' ?” “There would not, attitude, is bound to fail. The only solution, in the opinion of the Lord." (D.II 67. Mahànidàna S.). The discriminative function of Buddha, lay in cutting off completely this 'Gordian knot' : consciousness is seen here in the form of distinguishing three feeling-tones and hence sometimes one finds consciousness itself 'Wherein are cut off name and form Sense-reaction and percepts of form being defined in terms of knowing discriminatively (vijànàti) the Leaving no residue at all three grades of feeling Þ 'pleasant' (sukha), 'unpleasant' (dukkha) Therein is cut off the tangle withal.'1 and 'neither-unpleasant-nor-pleasant' (adukkhamasukha).1 Out of this discrimination there arises craving (or 'thirst') for the pleasant The trends that set in with the vortical interplay between and consequently, a reaching-out Þ a 'grasping' Þ for the same. In consciousness and name-and-form, continue through the the process of 'grasping' there is involved a kind of 'projection' of subsequent links of the formula of Dependent Arising. The six desires (cf.`nati' Þ inclination, bent) whereby the split in sense-spheres bifurcate themselves precipitating a dichotomy of an experience widens into a definite gap between a subject and an 'internal' and an 'external' with its concomitant notions of a 'here' and object. `Becoming' or `existence' is the make-believe attempt to a 'there', Contact, in a specific sense, is a sequel to this very bridge this gap which, however, forever remains unabridged, for dichotomy. It implies a principle of discrimination between two the material on which it relies is perpetually crumpling up things and consciousness fulfils this condition, “Dependent on underneath. Yet it somehow props up the conceit of an ego Þ the the eye and forms, friends, there arises eye-consciousness, a conceit `I am' (asmimàna). From the point of view of the ego, the coming together of the three is contact ...... ” (M. I. things clung to (upàdàna) appear as assets (upadhi) and one takes 111. Madhupindika S.). The canonical simile of the friction pride in the very things one depends on. Thus liabilities are looked 2 between two sticks illustrates this aspect of contact. With feeling, upon as positive assets and an abject slavery becomes a petty 1. `Yattha nàma¤ca råpa¤ca - asesa§ uparujjhati mastery. The topsy-turvydom is complete and the double-bind pañigha§ råpasa¤¤a ca - ettha sà chijjate jañà' becomes a fait accompli. The ego now finds itself `born' into a Þ S. I. 13. Jañà S. world of likes and dislikes, subject to decay-and-death, sorrow, 2. “Just as monks, from the coming together of two sticks by way lamentation, pain, grief and despair. of friction, there arises heat and fire is produced, and by the separation, the laying aside, of these two sticks themselves, whatever heat was born thereof that ceases, subsides. Even so, monks, these three feelings (see below) are born of contact, rooted in contact, arisen out of contact, dependent on contact. Depending on a specific contact specific feelings arise and with the cessation of a specific contact specific feelings cease.” Þ S. IV 215. Phassamålaka S. Compare this simile with what was said above regarding 1. the `actual impact'. See M. I 292 MahàVedalla S.

3 2 33 the Noble Ones, untrained in the Dhamma of the Noble Ones, Chapter VI taking no account of the good men, unskilled in the Dhamma of the good men, untrained in the Dhamma of the good men, looks upon `SELF' - THE POINT-OF-VIEW form as self, or self as having form, or form as being in self, or self as being in form. But his form disintegrates and owing to that he The birth of the `ego' or `self' as an `individual'1 out of the might come to grief. And so with feeling, perception, formations vortical interplay, is at the same time the birth of a `point-of-view'. and consciousness ...... ” Personality-view (sakkàyadiññhi Þ lit. the `existing-body' view) in Þ S. III. 137. Nadã S. ('The River'). its twenty modes portrays the desperate attempt of the illusory self to build for itself a foundation by grasping the five aggregates It is the tragedy of the double-bind that despite their transient though these are all the time disintegrating. nature the five groups sustain the individual's conceit `I am', even as a mirror reflects the image of one who gazes at it. “Supposing, monks, there were a river, a mountain-torrent, a swift-flowing stream that goes a long way. On both its banks there "Owing to dependence, friend ânanda, comes the conceit `I might be growing Kasa-grass that overhangs, kusa-grass that am', not without dependence. Depending on what, comes the overhangs, babbaja-grass that overhangs, bãrana-grass that conceit `I am'? Depending on form there comes the conceit `I am', overhangs, trees that overhang. A man being swept away by that not otherwise. Depending on feeling ...... perception ...... stream might clutch at the kasa-grass, but it might break away and formations ...... Depending on consciousness there comes the owing to that he would come to grief. He might clutch at the kusa- conceit `I am', not otherwise. Just as, friend, ânanda, a young grass . . . . . He might clutch at the babbaja-grass ...... He might woman or man fond of self-adornment, in gazing at the image of clutch at the trees but they too might break away and owing to that her or his face in a clean spotless mirror or in a bowl of clear water, he would come to grief. does so depending on something and not without depending, even so, friend ânanda, depending on form comes the conceit `I am', not “Even so, monks, the uninstructed ordinary man who takes otherwise. Depending on feeling . . . . . perception ...... formations no account of the Noble Ones, is unskilled in the Dhamma of ...... Depending on consciousness comes the conceit `I am', not otherwise”. Þ S. III. 105. ânanda.

If, in the ignorant worldling's reflection, `selfhood' appears as

1. something self-evident, it is due to this predicament in `And what, monks, is birth? That which of this and that being, which he finds himself. The self-image follows him like a in this and that species, is birth, arising, descent (i.e. shadow that can neither be outstripped nor escaped. Hence conception), coming into existence, appearance of aggregates, one can sympathize with the 'self'- created problems of both the acquiring of sense-spheres. This is called birth.' Eternalist and the Nihilist. The Eternalist's discomfiture in the Þ S. II.3 face of impermanence is easily understood but perhaps not so `Birth', in its broadest sense, is applicable even to `gold and easily the Nihilist's. He is dismayed to find the `self' which he silver' (jàtaråparajata§) according to the Ariyapariyesana vehemently denied dogging him close behind, when he turns Sutta (M. I. 162), for all `assets' are subject to birth back to introspect. Thus whether one takes up the viewpoint (`Jàtidhammà hete bhikkhave upadhayo' - ibid.).

3 4 35 `I have a soul' or the opposite viewpoint, `I do not have a soul' he is because of disgust with the existing-body, keep running round, bound either way.1 keep circling round, that same existing-body . . . . .”1 Þ M. II. 232f. Pa¤cattaya S. " ...... Monks, a Tathàgata understands that thus: 'There Since the obsession of self persists whether one runs towards are recluses and Brahmins who make known an existing the shadow or away from it, the solution advanced by the Buddha being's annihilation, obliteration and non-being. Because of was the comprehension of the very conditioned nature of the five fear of the existing body (sakkàya), because of disgust with the aggregates of grasping, thereby recognizing the shadow for what it existing body, they keep running round, keep circling round, is. that same existing-body. Just as a dog tethered by a leash and anchored to a stout pole or post keeps running round, keeps "He who sees Dependent Arising sees the Dhamma, and he circling round, that same pole or post, so too these worldly who sees the Dhamma sees Dependent Arising. These are but recluses and Brahmins, because of fear of the existing body, dependently arisen, namely, the five aggregates of grasping. That

1. desire, attachment, involvement and entanglement in regard to In the Sabbàsava Sutta (M. I. 8) the Buddha includes these two these five aggregates of grasping, is the arising of suffering and among the six views which are said to arise in one who wrongly that disciplining, that giving up, of desire-and-lust in these five reflects in the following manner: "Was I in the past ? Was I not aggregates of grasping, is the cessation of suffering," - M. I 191. in the past ? What was I in the past ? How was I in the past? Mahà Hatthipadopama S. Having been what, what was I in the past ? Shall I be in the future? Shall I not be in the future? What shall I be in the future? By seeing things as they are in the light of wisdom, one comes to How shall I be in the future ? Having been what, what shall I be understand that the shadow is cast by a narrow point-of-view in the in the future ?" Or else, he is doubtful in himself about the murk of ignorance. This vision or insight is the result of the arising present, thus: "Am I ? Am I not ? What am I ? How am I ? of the dustless, stainless "Eye of Truth" (viraja§ vãtamala§ Whence has this being come ? Whither will it be bound ?" dhammacakkhu§) Þ also called the `Eye-of-wisdom' This kind of reflection leads one into a jungle of views (pa¤¤àcakkhu) Þ which reveals to the Stream-winner, the Noble because one has taken for granted the `I'. The proper reflection Norm summed up in the words 'Whatever is of a nature to arise, all is in terms of the , since all that exists and that is of a nature to cease' (ya§ ki¤ci samudayadhamma§ sabba§ ceases is suffering. ta§ nirodhadhamma§' Þ M. I. 380 Upàli S.) The disillusionment The two questions of Vacchagotta (S. IV 400f.): `Is there a brought about by this extraordinary vision is so pervasive and soul ?' or `Is there no soul ?' carried the same presumptions transforming, that the Buddha compares it to the case of a born of wrong reflection. Hence the Buddha's silence. As the congenitally blind man who, as soon as he gains eyesight, becomes Buddha, for his part, had no conception of a soul which is but a disillusioned about a greasy grimy cloth with which he had been figment of the worldling's imagination, he used to negate it deceived. And even as that man would regard with disfavour the only where it was asserted with specific reference to one or the trickster who gave him the cloth saying that it is a beautiful other of the aggregates. Thus, for instance, before he ventured piece of pure white cloth, the Noble Disciple too, on gaining to answer Poññhapàda's question: `Is perception a man's soul or is perception one thing and soul another ?', he counter- 1. The translation (with minor alterations) is from Venerable questioned him : `What do you mean by a soul ?' - D. I. 185f. ¥àõamoli's unpublished Majjhima Nikàya translation. Poññhapàda S.

3 6 3 7 the 'Eye of Truth', undergoes a change of attitude towards his own five aggregates of grasping Þ begin to get liquidated. mind : ” ...... Even so, Màgandiya, if I were to teach you the Consciousness ceases to appear as a substantial core of living Dhamma, pointing out to you that state of health Þ that Nibbàna Þ experience. Instead, one now sees it with radical reflection (yoniso and if you, on your part, were to understand that state of health and manasikàra) as a dependently arisen phenomenon which is always see that Nibbàna, simultaneous with that arising of the eye in you, specific, even as fire is. "Just as, monks, dependent on whatever whatever desire-and-lust you had in the five aggregates of grasping, condition a fire burns, it comes to be reckoned in terms of that will be abandoned. And furthermore, it would occur to you: 'For a condition (that is to say), a fire that burns dependent on logs is long time, indeed, have I been cheated, deceived and enticed by this reckoned as a `log-fire'; a fire that burns dependent on faggots is mind; for, in grasping, it was merely form that I had been grasping, reckoned as a `faggot-fire'; a fire that burns dependent on grass is it was merely feeling that I had been grasping, it was merely reckoned as a `grass-fire'; a fire that burns dependent on cow-dung perception that I had been grasping, it was merely formations that I is reckoned as a `cow-dung fire'; a fire that burns dependent on had been grasping, it was merely consciousness that I had been chaff is reckoned as a `chaff fire'; a fire that burns dependent on grasping. And from my grasping there arises becoming; rubbish is reckoned as a `rubbish-fire' Þ even so, monks, conditioned by becoming, birth; and conditioned by birth there consciousness is reckoned by the condition dependent on which it arise decay-and-death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, despair. It arises. A consciousness arising dependent on eye and forms is is thus that there comes to be the arising of this entire mass of reckoned as `an eye-consciousness'; a consciousness arising suffering.”' - M. I 511f. Màgandiya S. dependent on ear and sounds is reckoned as `an ear- consciousness'; a consciousness arising dependent on nose and smells is reckoned as `a nose-consciousness'; a consciousness Your own disenchantment on seeing through the wily tricks of arising dependent on tongue and flavours is reckoned as `a tongue- the magician, might give an indication of the nature of the consciousness'; a consciousness arising dependent on body and transformation in outlook that results from the arising of the Eye- tangibles is reckoned as `a body-consciousness'; a consciousness of-Truth. The Noble Disciple too begins to discover the magician's arising dependent on mind and ideas is reckoned as `a mind- `surprises' well in advance so as to be able to anticipate the consciousness'." Þ M. I 259f. MahàTaõhàsa§khaya S. `surprises'. The magic loses its magic for him, now that he sees plainly where exactly the secret of the magic lies Þ that is, in his The five aggregates which from the point of view of self, one own psychological mainsprings of lust, hatred and delusion. He earlier took for granted as `the given', now appear as `dependently- realizes that, apart from them, there is no reality in the articles and arisen', `made-up' and `composite'. Their process of artifices involved in the magic-show of consciousness, and is now accumulation (upacaya) is also seen to be something like a in a position to appreciate the Buddha's statement in the trickling through the sieve of consciousness. But even the sieve of Kàlakàràma Sutta: “Thus, monks, a Tathàgata does not conceive of consciousness performs its function only when the proper a visible thing as apart from sight; he does not conceive of an conditions are there. "If the eye in oneself, friends, were intact, but unseen: he does not conceive of a `thing-worth-seeing'; he does not no external forms entered the range of vision and there were no conceive about a seer ...... ” appropriate1 bringing into focus (samannàhàro), then there would be no manifestation of the appropriate class of consciousness. The penetration into the conditioned nature of consciousness is tantamount to a storming of the citadel of the illusory self. With 1. i.e. tajjo: conveying the sense of specificity. See above p. 32, it, the `personality-view' (sakkàyadiññhi) is abandoned and the Note 2. `assets' (upadhi) on which the `self' depended Þ i.e. the 3 8 3 9 If the eye in oneself were intact and external forms also entered the Chapter VII range of vision but there were no appropriate focussing, there would be no manifestation of the appropriate class of THE TRANSCENDENTAL PATH consciousness. But it is when the eye in oneself is intact, external forms also enter the range of vision and the appropriate focussing A flash of insight might give one a glimpse of the subtle back- too is there, that there is a manifestation of the appropriate class of stage manoeuvres behind the illusory magic-show of consciousness. And any form in one who is in such a state, is consciousness, but in every case it might not be powerful enough to included in the form-aggregate of grasping; any feeling in him is destroy all cankers or influxes (àsavà) which seek to influence included in the feeling-aggregate of grasping; any perception in every moment of one's living experience.1 The influxes, which are him is included in the perception-aggregate of grasping; any generally reckoned to be threefold2 Þ i.e. those of sensuality formations in him are included in the formations-aggregate of (kàmàsavà), becoming (bhavàsavà) and ignorance (avijjàsavà) Þ grasping and any consciousness in him is included in the are the cankers born of our cumulative experience in Sa§sàra. consciousness-aggregate of grasping. And he understands : `This, They include all corrupting tendencies, inclinations and it seems, is how there comes to be inclusion, gathering and obsessions that constitute the ruts and grooves of our mental amassing into these five aggregates of grasping.' " Þ M. I. 190. terrain. Perhaps a deeper analysis of their influence is to be seen in MahàHatthipadoma S. the seven latencies (anusayà) Þ those of attachment, aversion, views, doubts, conceits, attachment-to-becoming and ignorance. If latencies are to be compared to subterranean currents at subconscious level, influxes might be described as streams manifest at the conscious level. In the ethical terminology of early Buddhism the potency and sweeping influence of these influxes is also indicated by comparing them to floods (oghà).

1. "It is as if, friend, there were in the desert path a well, and neither rope nor drawer of water. And a man should come by oppressed with heat, foredone with heat, weary, parched, thirsty. He should look down into the well. Verily, in him would be the knowledge: `Water!' Þ Yet he would not be in a position to touch it physically.

"Even so, friend, I have well seen by right insight as it really is that the ceasing of becoming is Nibbàna, and yet I am not an Arahant in whom influxes are extinct." Þ S. II. 118. `Kosambi'.

2. Sometimes diññhàsavà (influxes of views) is mentioned as the fourth.

4 0 41 In the context of latencies, influxes and floods, a complete re- and his verbal actions and his livelihood have already been purified orientation of sense-perception often becomes an arduous task earlier. So this comes to be perfected in him requiring diligent practice. The Noble Eightfold Path in its by development." Þ M. III. 288f. Mahàsalàyatanika S. transcendental aspect1 provides the Noble Disciple with the necessary scheme of mental training whereby the process of accumulation of the five aggregates of grasping may be effectively The five aggregates of grasping which are said to be checked, thus nullifying the influence of the aforesaid corrupting `compounded' or `concocted' (saïkhata) are but accumulated forces. sense-experience fermented by ignorance. Due to egotistic clinging in the form of `conceiving' (ma¤¤anà) sense-data "Knowing and seeing the eye, monks, as it really is, knowing and become impregnated with this dynamic ferment and proliferation seeing forms as they really are, knowing and seeing eye- (papa¤ca) follows. It is in view of this state of affairs that particular consciousness as it really is, knowing and seeing eye-contact emphasis is laid on the necessity of viewing sense data with as it really is, and also knowing and seeing whatever feeling Þ detachment. The Buddha's advice to Bàhiya clearly indicates that pleasant, unpleasant or neither-unpleasant-nor-pleasant Þ that this training has as much a philosophical as an ethical background. arises dependent on eye-contact, as it really is, one gets not "Then, Bàhiya, thus must you train yourself: `In the seen, there will attached to the eye, gets not attached to forms, gets not attached be just the seen; in the heard just the heard; in the sensed1; just the to eye-consciousness, gets not attached to eye-contact and gets not sensed; in the cognized, just the cognized'. That is how, Bàhiya, attached even to that feeling Þ pleasant, unpleasant or neither- you must train yourself. Now when, Bàhiya, in the seen there will unpleasant-nor-pleasant Þ that arises dependent on eye-contact. be to you just the seen; in the heard just the heard; in the sensed just And for him as he abides unattached, unfettered, uninfatuated the sensed; in the cognized just the cognized, then Bàhiya, you will contemplating the peril (in eye etc.), the five aggregates of not be (reckoned) by it. And when, Bàhiya, you will not be grasping that would have arisen undergo effacement (apacaya§ (reckoned) by it, you will not be in it. And when, Bàhiya, you will gacchanti). That craving which makes for re-becoming, which is not be in it, then, Bàhiya, you will not be `here' nor `there' nor accompanied by delight and lust, finding delight here and there, `midway-between'. This itself is the end of suffering." Þ Ud. 8. that too is abandoned in him. His bodily disturbances cease; his mental disturbances cease; his bodily afflictions cease: his mental afflictions cease; his bodily distresses cease: his mental distresses cease; and he experiences physical and mental happiness. Whatever view such a one has, that becomes for him Right view; whatever intention he has, that becomes for him Right Intention; whatever effort he puts forth, that becomes for him Right Effort; whatever he has, that becomes for him Right Mindfulness: and whatever concentration he has, that becomes for him Right Concentration. But his bodily actions 1. The distinction between the worldly and the transcendental aspects of the Eightfold Path is explained in the 1. Mahàcattàrisaka Sutta (M. III.71ff.) 'muta' : sensations arising from taste, touch and smell.

4 2 43 Chapter VIII condition, formations come to be ...... Thus, monks, that suchness therein Þ the invariability, the `not-otherwiseness', the SUCHNESS AND THE SUCH LIKE ONE relatedness of this to that Þ this, monks, is called Dependent Arising. And what, monks, are things dependently arisen? Decay- and-death is impermanent, compounded, dependently arisen, is of The principle underlying the twelve-linked formula of a nature to wither away, pass away, fade away and cease. So too is Dependent Arising is a law of nature that is universally applicable, birth, becoming, grasping, craving, feeling, contact, six sense- whether one is dealing with the animate realm or the inanimate. It spheres, name-and-form, consciousness, formations, ignorance. presents a dynamic view of all phenomena as they arise depending These also are impermanent, compounded, dependently arisen, on causes, only to cease when these are removed. are of a nature to wither away, pass away, fade away and cease. These, monks, are called things dependently arisen ...... " `This being Þ this comes to be; Þ S. II. 25f. With the arising of this Þ this arises. This not being Þ this does not come to be; `Suchness' (tathatà), `invariability' (avitathatà), `not- With the cessation of this Þ this ceases'. otherwise-ness' (ana¤¤athatà) and `relatedness of this-to-that' (idappaccayatà: i.e. specific conditionality) are highly significant The law is so integral that any two consecutive links of the terms indicating the degree of importance attached by the Buddha formula would amply illustrate it. Hence we find the Buddha to this law of Dependent Arising. The first three terms affirm the sometimes drawing a distinction between Dependent Arising validity of the law. Tathà, it may be noted, is a word meaning `thus' (pañicca-samuppàda) as such, and dependently arisen phenomena or `such' Þ a rather `unassuming' type of expression carrying (paticcasamuppannà dhammà), well knowing the popular with it some nuances of detachment as well. As a correlate of tendency to lose sight of the essentials by getting involved in yathà1 (`in whatever way') tathà says little on its own, but for that details. very reason tathatà (Suchness, Thusness) becomes a fitting epithet for the principle of Dependent Arising. Here is a concept of truth "Monks, I will teach you Dependent Arising and dependently shorn of all sectarian prejudice and pretension. A universal norm, arisen things ...... And what, monks, is Dependent Arising ? true for all times irrespective of the arising of Tathàgatas to reveal From birth as condition, decay-and-death comes to be. Whether and proclaim it, is indeed one that could rightly be called a there be an arising of Tathàgatas or whether there be no such `Suchness'. arising, this nature of things just stands, this causal status, this causal orderliness, the relatedness of this to that. Concerning that The `relatedness of this-to-that' (idappccayatà) which the Tathàgata is fully enlightened, that he fully understands. Fully implies specific conditionality, is a term that brings out the enlightened, fully understanding, he declares it, teaches it, reveals essentially dependent and relative character of the phenomena it, sets it forth, manifests, explains, makes it plain, saying : through which the law finds expression. It explains, in particular, `Behold!' the significance of the pair-wise formulation, showing that in each pair, given the first member, the second follows of "From birth as condition, decay-and-death comes to be; 1. from becoming as condition birth . . . . . from ignorance as cf. Yathàbhåta¤àõadassana Þ `knowledge and vision of things as they are'.

4 4 4 5 1 necessity.1 Phenomena have a tendency to manifest themselves as a (àhàrà), as indicated by the latter half of the formula of Dependent flux Þ one conditioned phenomenon leading on to another. It is Arising. However, there are enough instances in the Pàli Canon to this dynamic aspect of the law that finds figurative expression in the show that it is quite legitimate to conceive this receding process following simile : positively too, as a progress in terms of wholesome mental states. "The ocean, monks, when it swells, makes the great rivers swell; "Just as when, monks, on some hilltop when rain is falling in the great rivers when they swell, make their tributaries swell; these thick drops, that water, coursing according to the slope, fills the when they swell, make the mountain tarns swell. hillside clefts and chasms and gullies, these being filled up fill the "Even so, monks, swelling ignorance makes formations swell, tarns, these being filled up fill the lakes, these being filled up fill swelling formations make consciousness swell ...... swelling the little rivers, these being filled up, fill the great rivers, and the birth makes decay-and-death swell. great rivers being filled up, fill the sea, the ocean - even so, monks, there is causal association of formations with ignorance, of "The ocean, monks, when it ebbs, makes the great rivers ebb; consciousness with formations, of name-and-form with these make the tributaries ebb, these make the mountain lakes ebb, consciousness, of the sixfold sense-sphere with name-and-form, these make the mountain tarns ebb. of contact with the sixfold sense-sphere, of feeling with contact, of "Even so, monks, ebbing ignorance makes formations ebb, craving with feeling, of grasping with craving, of becoming with ebbing formations make consciousness ebb ...... ebbing birth grasping, of birth with becoming, of suffering with birth, of faith makes decay-and-death ebb." Þ S. II.118f. with suffering, of joy with faith, of rapture with joy, of serenity with rapture, of happiness with serenity, of concentration with Thus the law holds good for both kinds of `flux' - that of water happiness, of the knowledge-and-vision-of-things-as-they-really- and that of psychological states. The process of tide and ebb is a are with concentration, of turning-away with the knowledge-and- tendency not only of water but of the sa§sàric individual as well.2 vision-of-things-as-they-really-are, of dispassion with turning The recognition of this process `as-it-is' marks a significant advance away, of deliverance with dispassion, of knowledge about on the trends of animistic thought which, from pre-historic times, extinction (of influxes) with deliverance." Þ S. II. 32.Upanisà S. sought to explain phenomena in terms of essence, self or soul. It is all the more significant for its corollary that the entire process could Instead of a `tide-and-ebb' we find in the above sutta a be made to cease progressively by applying the proper means. `leading-onward' towards fullness or perfection, and it is this Negatively put, the spiritual endeavour to end all suffering is a aspect of the Dhamma that finds expression in the epithet process of `starving' the conditions of their respective `nutriments' opanayiko. The famous simile of the relay-chariots in the

1. Rathavinãta Sutta (M. I 147ff.) depicts this `leading-onward' in A clearer enunciation of this is found at S. II. 79. It runs: "This a figurative way. A less figurative, but an equally effective being Þ this comes to be. With the arising of this Þ this expression of this fact, is found in the Buddha's words: "Thus, arises, When there is ignorance (avijjàya ) formations monks, mere phenomena flow into other phenomena, mere come to be (saïkhàrà honti)", etc. phenomena fill up (or perfect) other phenomena in the process 2. cf. `Kuto sarà nivattanti Þ kattha vañña§ na vaññati'. "Where from do currents turn back Þ where whirls no more the 1. See M. I 260 ff. Mahà Taõhàsa§khaya S. whirlpool ?" Þ S. I. 15.

4 6 4 7 of passing from the `not-beyond' to the Beyond."1 Þ A.V 3f. `thing' - which too yields to the same law of nature. "The world attached to becoming, is becoming otherwise; subject to There are some far-reaching conclusions flowing from a becoming, it yet delights in becoming. What it delights in, is a consideration of the law of Dependent Arising as a `Suchness' and source of fear and what it fears is suffering."1 a specific-conditionality. As already mentioned (see above Ch. IV) this law has a wholesome effect on one's outlook in enabling one to The process of becoming is thus shown to be perpetually going avoid entanglement in speculative theories current in the world. In on within the mind of the sa§sàric individual2 who identifies addition to it, the understanding of the flux within and without, himself with sense-data under the influence of the proliferating fosters an attitude of enlightened equanimity. One begins to look tendencies towards craving, conceits and views. This identification upon phenomena as impermanent (anicca) and void of essence is implied by the term tammayatà (lit. `of-that-ness') and one who (su¤¤a) Þ of any selfhood. What one imagined to be permanent resorts to it, is called tammayo Þ one who is `made-of-that' or is now appears to be impermanent because one sees its arising and `of-that-(stuff)'. Since the perpetual process of becoming in the passing away. But a more astounding revelation comes in the form psychological realm is necessarily followed by birth, decay- of the conviction that it is the very conceiving or egotistic and-death, sorrow, lamentation, pain grief and despair in every imagining (ma¤¤aõà) which gives rise to those phenomena or specific instance of short-lived identification, an insight into the `things' (dhammà). To conceive is to conceive as a `thing', but that law of Dependent Arising provides one with the key to the entire thing is, as it were, `still-born', for it cannot survive in a world gamut of sa§sàric experience. One comes to understand the where separation (nànàbhàvo), privation (vinàbhàvo) and cycle of sa§sàric life by discovering its epicycle in the very otherwise-ness (a¤¤athàbhàvo: i.e. transformation) are the 1. inexorable law. "Whatever thing they conceive of, ipso facto it A¤¤athàbhàvã bhavasatto loko Þ bhavapareto turns otherwise; and that becomes false for him Þ the puerile bhavamevàbhinandati delusive thing that it is."2 Selfhood which tries to sit pretty on yadabhinandati ta§ bhaya§ Þ yassa bhàyati ta§ dukkha§ that which is liable to disintegrate (palokadhamma§) is itself Ud. 31f. subject to the inexorable law of impermanence. In the face of 1. "Just as, O monks, a monkey faring through the woods, this predicament, one craves, grasps and `becomes' yet another through the great forest, catches hold of a bough, letting it go seizes another, even so, that which we call thought, mind, 1. See also Mahàcattàr saka S. (M. III 76): "In one of Right ã consciousness, that arises as one thing, ceases as another, both View, Right Intention arises; in one of Right Intention, Right by night and by day. Herein, monks, the instructed noble Speech arises; in one of Right Speech, Right Action arises; in disciple thoroughly and radically reflects (sàdhuka§ yoniso one of Right Action, Right Livelihood arises; in one of Right manasikaroti) on the law of Dependent Arising itself: `This Livelihood, Right Effort arises; in one of Right Effort, Right being, this comes to be, with the arising of this, this arises. Mindfulness arises; in one of Right Mindfulness, Right This not being, this does not come to be; with the cessation of Concentration arises: in one of Right Concentration, Right this, this ceases'. That is to say, conditioned by ignorance Knowledge arises; in one of Right Knowledge, Right formations come to be, conditioned by formations Deliverance arises." 2. consciousness, conditioned by consciousness name-and-form `Yena yena hi ma¤¤anti Þ tato ta§ hoti a¤¤athà ...... Thus is the arising of this entire mass of ta§ hi tassa musà hoti Þ mosadhamma§ hi ittara§' suffering." Þ Sn. v.757; Ud. 32 Þ S. II. 95. Assutavato.

4 8 4 9 structure of living experience. He is now convinced of the fact that things causally arisen (hetuppabhavà dhammà; hetusamuppannà it is craving that plays the villain in the drama of sa§sàric dhammà).1 As the insight into the principle Þ `This being, this existence, bringing about re-becoming (ponobhavikà) by comes to be; with the arising of this, this arises. This not being, this delighting `now-here-now-there' (tatratatràbhinandinã). does not come to be; with the cessation of this, this ceases' Þ goes deeper and deeper into the fabric of the twelve-linked formula, a Problems of existence Þ of life and death Þ which one had de-colouration or a fading-away ensues, with which one realizes hitherto tried in vain to solve in the wider context of sa§sàric lives the destruction of the very conditions (paccayà) forming the warp spread out in time and space, now find a solution in the timeless and woof of the formula in its direct and reverse order.2 (akàliko) epicycle of sa§sàra revolving within the mind. Hence all 1. problems converge on the all-important issue of abandoning that Ye dhammà hetuppabhavà Þ tesa§ hetu§ tathàgato àha craving which makes for re-becoming. By revealing the tesa¤ca yo nirodho Þ eva§vàdi mahàsamano Þ Vin. I. 40f. antecedents of craving, the law of Dependent Arising points to a `Of things that arise from a cause technique whereby this tendency deeply ingrained in the ruts of our Their cause the Tathàgata has told sa§sàric habits could be ferreted out of its sockets.1 Ignorance has And also their cessation to be replaced by knowledge. In other words, the tendency to attend Thus teaches the Great Recluse.' to the dependently arisen phenomena by imagining `things' in This stanza in which the venerable presented the them, has to be overcome by training the mind to attend to the law quintessence of the Buddha's teaching to the wandering ascetic of Dependent Arising, instead. It might be recalled that each of the Sàriputta (later, the Chief Disciple, the `Foremost-in-Wisdom') twelve links of the formula has been described as `impermanent, is noteworthy in this connection. Both Sàriputta and compounded, dependently arisen, of a nature to wither away, pass Moggallàna attained the Fruit of Stream-winning on hearing it, away, fade away and cease'. (See above, Ch. VIII.) The via media of as it aroused in them `the dustless, stainless Eye-of-Truth', i.e. training the mind to attend to the nature of things rather than to the the insight into the law of Dependent Arising. things themselves, may be called a rare type of psychotherapy According to the Dhammapada commentary (see introduced by the Buddha. It is a way of making the conditioned Aggasàvakavatthu), both had already undergone a salutary phenomena `fade away and cease' by penetrating into their cause. mental crisis, when they got disgusted with the hill-top festival Thus, insight into the Noble Norm (ariyo ¤àyo) of Dependent which they were witnessing. If the tradition is authentic, we may Arising implies a knowledge of the cause (hetu) as well as of the say that this preliminary insight into the backstage workings of the `magic-show' of consciousness had prepared their minds to a better reception of the Buddha's message.

2. 1. Note that the Second Noble Truth of the Arising of Suffering is Yadà have pàtubhavanti dhammà sometimes defined simply as craving and sometimes as the law àtàpino jhàyato bràhmaõassa of Dependent Arising. (see e.g. S. II. 10; A I. 177). The athassa kaïkhà vapayanti sabbà implication is that this formula explains the antecedents of yato khaya§ paccayàna§ avedi Þ Ud. 2. craving, tracing it back to ignorance Þ its intellectual "When phenomena manifest themselves to the perfect counterpart. Saint as he meditates ardently, then all his doubts are dispelled since he has understood the destruction of the conditions."

5 0 51 The truth of impermanence is thus tested in the crucible of The Buddha, however, discovered that the truth is just the contrary. one's own experience Þ a panoramic view of the world arising and passing away as seen through one's own six sense-spheres.1 The I. "To the one attached (lit. one who is `supported') there is reference in the Udàna (1 - 3) to the Buddha's reflection on wavering (or `dislodgement'), to the unattached one, there is no Dependent Arising in direct-order (anuloma§), in reverse-order wavering; wavering not being, there is calm; calm being, there is no (pañilomaü) and in both direct and reverse order (anuloma- bending (i.e. inclination); bending not being, there is no coming- pañiloma§) soon after his Enlightenment, has to be understood in and-going; coming-and-going not being, there is no death-and- this sense. This penetrative insight into the arising and cessation of birth; there being no death-and-birth, there is neither a `here' nor a phenomena dispels all doubts as to the speculative problems of `there' nor any (position) `between-the-two'. This itself is the end absolute existence and non-existence, of unity and plurality etc, of suffering." Þ Ud. 81; M. III 266; S. IV 59. and the mind is brought to rest in the `middle' Þ though, paradoxically, it now rests on nothing. `Thingness' has completely II. "The one unattached wavers not, but the one attached, who faded away so much so that craving finds `no-thing' to grasp at. clings, does not transcend Saüsàra which is of the nature of `this- Instead of an attempt at identification (tammyatà) impelled by ness' and `otherwise-ness' (itthabhàva¤¤athàbhàva§). Knowing craving, a detached contemplation of the Norm of Suchness this peril, this great danger, in `supports' (nissayesu) let the monk (tathatà) sets in. With this emancipation of the mind, one's attitude fare along mindfully Þ resting on nothing, clinging to nothing." towards the world with all its vicissitudes, becomes one of 'Such- Þ Sn. vv. 752 - 3 Dvayatànupassanà S. like-ness' (tàdità) Þ of aloofness (atammayatà) and he deserves to be called the `Such-One' or the `Such-like One' (tàdi, tàdiso) "That As the river-simile quoted above (see Ch. VI) illustrates, the ardent one, who touched the destruction of birth by overcoming worldling has the tendency to clutch at the `things' in the form of Màra Þ by vanquishing the Ender Þ that wise sage, the Such-like phenomena when he finds his `self' being swept away by the swift- One, the Knower of the World, is unattached (atammayo) in regard flowing stream of nature. With cravings, conceits and views he tries to all phenomena."2 to cling to and rest on the fleeting phenomena, only to be foiled in his attempts. Every attempt to salvage the `self' from the flux is The attitude of the Such-like One reflects an extraordinary followed by a definite series of psychological reactions. From the blend of qualities ranging from firmness and steadfastness to very moment of his identifying himself with the `thing' of his adaptability and resilience. To the worldling this appears as a choice (i.e. ma¤¤anà) there sets in unsteadiness or wavering in the paradox because he always associates the concept of firmness with face of possible dislodgement. `Bending' or inclination is that blind some standpoint. Not to take up a standpoint is to vacillate, and reaching-out into the unknown future, prompted by craving or hence he finds it difficult to conceive of a firmness apart from it. `thirst' Þ the `guide-in-becoming' (bhavanetti). The concepts of 1. coming-and-going are relative to the standpoint already taken in the `In the six the world arose In the six it holds concourse process of identification. A relationship having been thus On the six themselves depending established between one's present identity and a possible future In the six it has its woes.' - S. I. 41. Loka. state, there follows the corollary Þ `death-and-birth' Þ with its 2. `Pasayha màram abhibhuyya antaka§ note of finality. With it, relative distinctions of a `here', a `there' Yo ca phusi jàtikkhaya§ padhànavà and a `midway-between' also set in. The entire process, So tàdiso lokavidå sumedho whether it be understood in the context of the epicycle of Sa§sàra Sabbesu dhammesu atammayo muni' Þ A. I. 150. traceable to every moment of living experience or in the context

5 2 53 1 of the larger cycle of Sa§sara rolling in time and space, is a mind; unalloyed is his mind, steady and become imperturbable, perpetual alternation between a `this-ness' and an `otherwise-ness' and he sees its passing away ...... " (A. IV 404). The Buddha's (itthabhàva¤¤athàbhàva§). declaration in the Kàlakàràma Sutta Þ "Thus, monks, the Now, the Such-like one who sees the danger in resorting to Tathàgata being Such-like in regard to all phenomena seen, heard, `supports' which only give way underneath, grasps at nothing and sensed and cognized, is `Such'" Þ is an allusion to this clings to nothing. He has given up all standpoints (see above, `uninfluenced' mind of the emancipated one. Kàlakàràma S.), and in so doing, has discovered a basis for firmness which never betrays. His is an Unshakable Deliverance of Inspite of the fact that firmness is usually associated with the Mind (akuppàcetovimutti) since he is free from attachment rigidity, in a certain sense the Such-like One may be said to (anurodha) and repugnance (virodha) in the face of the worldly possess an adaptability and resilience, for which his epithet can vicissitudes of `gain and loss, honour and dishonour, praise and easily find a place among its nuances. To revert to the river-simile blame, happiness and unhappiness' (see A IV 157). "In the case again, the Such-like One has escaped from the swift-flowing of a monk who is fully emancipated in mind, friends, though stream by `letting-go' of both the `self' and the things seized as many forms cognizable through the eye may come within the `supports' for the `self'. This might sound like a paradox, but all range of the eye, they never obsess his mind; unalloyed is his what he has done is to attune himself to reality by getting rid of the mind, steady and become imperturbable and he sees its passing illusion of self. As we saw above, it was this perverted notion that away. Though many sounds ...... smells ...... flavours ...... made him cling to the frail grasses on the river-bank in a bid to tangibles ...... ideas ...... they never obsess his save his `self'. The conceit of existence or `becoming' was the result of this clinging (upàdànapaccayà bhavo) and all conceits of 1. A practical application of this principle to the problem of life birth, decay and death were but relative to it. By penetrating into and death comes in the Channovàda Sutta (M. III 266. S. IV the truths of impermanence, suffering and not-self, the Such-like 59). Here, the venerable who was lying grievously ill One has adapted himself to the worldly vicissitudes which are but contemplating suicide, was advised by the venerable manifestations of the above conceits. These vicissitudes do not Mahàcunda to reflect on this particular aspect of the Buddha's `touch' him or affect him because he has already cut off all craving teaching on detachment (i.e. passage I quoted above). As he Þ `the guide-in-becoming' (`ucchinnabhavanettiko', D. I 46. declared with confidence to the venerable Sàriputta, his tempo Brahmajàla S.) of detachment had already reached a high degree. Though he "`Steadied whereon the tides of conceit (ma¤¤ussavà) no more committed suicide despite the latter's entreaties, we find the occur in him and when the tides of conceit no more occur he is Buddha exonerating him on the ground that he died as an called a Hermit Stilled (muni santo)'. So it was said. And with arahant. The episode is rather revolting to `common sense' and reference to what was this said? `Am' is a conceit (ma¤¤itam); `I it seems to touch a very delicate point in the doctrine. am this' is a conceit; `I shall be' is a conceit; `I shall not be' is a Nevertheless, if the deep philosophical implications of this conceit; `I shall be possessed of form' is a conceit; `I shall be short formula are appreciated, the episode would appear, at formless' is a conceit; `I shall be percipient' is a conceit; `I shall be least, less revolting: for in one of those exceptional bids to out- non-percipient' is a conceit; `I shall be neither-percipient-nor- do death, the venerble Channa had actually overcome death, non-percipient' is a conceit. Conceit is a disease, conceit is a though apparently he succumbed to it. cancer, conceit is a dart. It is with the surmounting of all conceits

5 4 55 that he is called a Hermit Stilled. The Hermit who is Stilled neither Chapter IX is born nor ages nor dies; he is unshaken (na kuppati) and free from longing. He has none of that whereby he might be born. Not being ESSENCE OF CONCEPTS born how shall he age ? Not ageing how shall he die ? Not dying how shall he be shaken ? Being unshaken what shall he long for ? So it was with reference to this that it was said: `Steadied whereon Concepts play a prominent role in the `magic-show' of the tides of conceit no more occur in him and when the tides of consciousness. Their influence is so pervasive that even the 1 conceit occur no more he is called a Hermit Stilled.' " Þ M. III thinker in his quest for truth can hardly afford to dispense with 246. Dhàtuvibhaïga S. them totally, however inadequate he finds them to be. In all transactions in mental life, concepts come in useful as `current- coin'. The seeker after truth might doubt their provenance, but still he has to recognize their utility value Þ willy-nilly.

As we saw above, the Buddha discovered a Middle Path in regard to the problem of concepts when he distinguished between the law of Dependent Arising and the phenomena dependently arisen. Concepts, as dependently arisen phenomena, are illustrations of the law and hence their utility value was recognized. Yet, the Buddha pointed out that it is the insight into the law itself that is essential and that concepts, when once they have fully `illustrated' the law, must themselves fade away in that radiance of wisdom (pa¤¤àpabhà) Þ having fulfilled their purpose.

This recognition of a higher purpose is an alchemy which transmutes the concept into a precursor of deliverance. It marks a remarkable advance on the extreme attitudes of dogmatism and cynicism or agnosticism and explains why the term dhamma (`thing', `phenomenon', `mind-object', `concept', `doctrine', `law', etc.) is such a generic term in Buddhism. Without clinging to the concept or trying to wriggle out of it, the Buddha penetrated deep into its character and revealed those strains in it that could be effectively utilized in one's quest for truth and freedom. Once he instructed the monks as to how they should reply to a series of 1. The translation (except for a few alterations) is from Venerable questions that could be raised by wandering ascetics of other sects ¥àõamoli. concerning the origin, behaviour and purpose of all `things'.

5 6 57 "...... When thus questioned, monks, you may reply to those "But what is it, Samiddhi, that dominates them ?" wandering ascetics as follows : `Rooted in desire (or interest), "They are dominated by mindfulness, venerable sir." friends, are all things; born of attention are all things; arising from "But what, Samiddhi, is their (point of) transcendence?" contact are all things; converging on feelings are all things; headed by concentration are all things; dominated by mindfulness "They are transcended by wisdom, venerable sir." are all things; surmountable by wisdom are all things; yielding "But what is it, Samiddhi, that forms their essence?" deliverance as essence are all things; merging in the Deathless are "They have deliverance as their essence, venerable sir." all things; terminating in Nibbàna are all things'. When thus "But in what, Samiddhi, do they get merged?" questioned, monks, you may reply in this way to those wandering "They get merged in the Deathless, venerable sir." ascetics of other sects." Þ A. V. 106f. Þ A. IV 385f. Here the Buddha uses the generic term dhammà which, for all practical purposes, may be rendered by `things'. But that the From the Buddha's explanation regarding the origin of `things', reference is to thoughts and concepts is clearly revealed by the their phenomenal character could easily be inferred. As stated in the following catechism employed by the venerable Sàriputta to test pair of opening stanzas in the Dhammapada, `all things have mind 1 the venerable Samiddhi's acquaintance with the above as their forerunner, mind is their chief and they are mind-made.' disquisition of the Buddha. The worldling with his object-oriented world-view might find it difficult to appreciate the Buddha's words when he says that things "With what as object, Samiddhi, do thoughts and concepts are rooted in desire or interest (chanda), that they are born of (sa§kappavitakkà) arise in a man ?" attention (manasikàra) and that they arise from contact (phassa). By "With name-and-form as object, venerable sir." projecting his desires, the worldling has so alienated himself that he "But wherein, Samiddhi, do they assume diversity?" is prone to believe `word' and `meaning' to be eternally united in 2 1 nature, even like the Divine pair. Radical reflection (yoniso "In the elements, venerable sir." manasikàra) as to the matrix of the concept, would however reveal "But whence, Samiddhi, do they arise?" that `meaning' Þ as far as its meaning is concerned Þ is not very "They arise from contact, venerable sir" far from the psychological mainsprings whence arise all desires, "But on what, Samiddhi, do they converge?" 1. `Mano pubbaïgamà dhammà Þ manoseññhà manomayà' "They converge on feelings, venerable sir." 2. See, for instance Kàlidàsa : "But what, Samiddhi, is at their head?" `I pay homage to the parents of the world, Pàrvatã and "They are headed by concentration, venerable sir." Paramesvara, who are united like word and meaning 1. The eighteen elements : the elements of eye, of form, of eye- (vàgarthàviva samprktau'), so that it may conduce to a consciousness; the elements of ear, of sound, of ear concord between word and meaning.' - Raghuva§sa v. 1. consciousness; the elements of nose, of odour, of nose- The contextual theory of meaning is an improvement on consciousness; the elements of tongue, of taste, of tongue- this popular view, though it has not fully explored the consciousness; the elements of body, of tangibles, of body- `psychological-context'. The modern pragmatist also has consciousness; the elements of mind, of ideas, of mind- rendered good service in breaking down some of the age-old consciousness. See S. II 101ff. myths concerning the relationship between word and meaning.

5 8 59 interests, needs, purposes and designs (see above Ch. III). It is but contemplation, is followed by a paragraph Þ thematic in form Þ the community of interests prompted by a measure of homosapient which neutralizes any errors of judgment that can easily arise from conceit, that gives the concept its stamp of authority after infusing a too literal interpretation. For instance, the sub-section on the into it a particular set of meanings hammered out on the anvil of contemplation of the four postures is set out as follows: logic (takkapariyàhata). Once it comes out as a `finished product' one is apt to forget its compound and `synthetic' character, which it "And further, O monks, when he is going, a monk understands: is the task of radical reflection to rediscover. In the matrix of the `I am going'; when he is standing, he understands: `I am standing'; concept, `interest' isolates the `thing', the beam of `attention' when he is sitting, he understands: `I am sitting'; when he is lying magnifies it, while `contact' defines and circumscribes it. down, he understands: `I am lying down'; or however his body is disposed, he understands accordingly. To the extent concepts become `significant', they may be said to converge on feelings. The element of concentration that guides "In this way he abides contemplating the body as a body in them and the power of mindfulness that dominates them, are himself, or he abides contemplating the body as a body externally, redeeming features of concepts, from the point of view of or he abides contemplating the body as a body in himself and deliverance. The actual point of intersection, however, is externally. Or else he abides contemplating the arising-nature in `wisdom'. Here, concepts are transcended, when penetrative the body, or he abides contemplating the dissolving-nature in the wisdom which sees the rise-and-fall (udayatthagàminã pa¤¤à) body, or he abides contemplating the arising-and-dissolving nature intuits into the reverse and obverse of these `current-coins'. They in the body. Or else the mindfulness that `There is a body' is thus `expend' themselves yielding deliverance as their essence established in him only to the extent necessary for just knowledge and get merged in the Deathless Þ reaching consummation in and remembrance, and he abides independent, not clinging to Nibbàna (see diagram). anything in the world." Þ D. II 292; M. I 56f. The dogmatist and the cynic both of whom might go astray by interpreting too literally the words `I am going', `I am standing', `I am sitting' and `I am lying down', should do well to note the significance of the practical hints given. Any undue emphasis on the `I am' is likely to give rise to an obsession with the idea of a self or an ego, and the cynic, for his part, is only too quick to notice here a contradiction with the teachings on anattà (`not-self'). But the mindfulness relating to body is not meant to be taken as an obsession with the body. Firstly, the provision for its application to In rallying the concepts for the higher purpose of developing others as well as to oneself is a way of universalising the principle wisdom whereby concepts themselves are transcended, the involved in the practice, thereby ridding the mind of any tendency Buddha has adopted a via media of a rare type. Concepts which to get pre-occupied with the ego. Secondly, the contemplation of make up the topsy-turvydom of Sa§sàra are pressed into the the arising-nature, the dissolving-nature, and the arising-and- service in order to develop the spiritual faculties - but always with dissolving nature of the body, tends to keep away any notions of adequate safeguards. This fact is well llustrated by the Satipaññhàna substantiality that may be associated with it, and furthermore Sutta where each sub-section introducing a particular type of prepares the mind for the final penetration of the concept of the body through wisdom.

6 0 61 Lastly, the proviso that the awareness `There is a body' should be "Friends, when there is eye and there is form and there is eye- regarded merely as a means to an end Þ that its purpose is the consciousness, it is possible that he will point out a designation of sharpening of the spiritual faculties of mindfulness and wisdom contact (phassapa¤¤atti). When there is a designation of Þ is a warning to those who `miss the wood for trees'. A monk contact, it is possible that he will point out a designation of who keeps to the true spirit of the practice, therefore, is one who feeling. When there is a designation of feeling, it is possible `abides independent, not clinging to anything in the world'. that he will point out a designation of perception. When there is a designation of perception, it is possible that he will point out a The constant awareness of its dependently arisen nature acts as designation of thought (vitakkapa¤¤atti). When there is a a catalyst wherever the concept is utilized to subserve higher ends. designation of thought, it is possible that he will point out a The fact that it is only a `reckoning' (sankhà) in the world is never designation of obsession due to reckonings born of prolific lost sight of, and its composite nature is often analytically perception (papa¤casa¤¤saïkhàsamudàcaraõapa¤¤atti). When demonstrated. To this detached outlook, it mattered little whether there is ear ...... sound ...... ear-consciousness ...... the concept is that of a `house' or that of a `body', "Just as, friends, When there is nose ...... odour . . . . . nose-consciousness . . . . . space equipped with timber and creepers and grass and clay When there is tongue . . . . . flavour ...... tongue-consciousness . comes to be reckoned as a `house', even so a space equipped with . . . . When there is body ...... tangible . . . . body-consciousness . . . bones and sinews and flesh and skin, comes to be reckoned as a . . . When there is mind ...... mind-object ...... mind- `form' (i.e. a `body')." Þ M. I. 190 Mahà Hatthipadopama S. consciousness ...... a designation of obsession due to reckonings born of prolific perception.' Not only in regard to the contemplation of body (kàyànupassanà), but also in the case of the other three "When, friends, there is no eye and there is no form and there is contemplations Þ i.e. those of feeling (vedanànupassanà), mind no eye-consciousness, it is impossible that he will point out a (cittànupassanà) and mind-objects (dhammànupassanà) Þ one designation of contact. When there is no designation of contact, it is enjoined to observe the same practical hints. When in the case is impossible that he will point out a designation of feeling. When of these three it is stated that such mindfulness as `There are there is no designation of feeling, it is impossible that he will point feelings'. `There is a mind' or `There are mind-objects' is out a designation of perception. When there is no designation of established in him only to the extent necessary for just knowledge and remembrance, it becomes evident that the Buddha had steered perception, it is impossible that he will point out a designation of clear of the ontologist who is apt to treat such categories as thought. When there is no designation of thought, it is impossible absolute. According to the phenomenalistic approach of the that he will point out a designation of obsession due to reckonings Buddha, not only the different types of feelings and mental states born of prolific perception. When there is no ear ...... no sound . but the entire range of doctrinal categories summed up under the ...... no ear-consciousness...... When there is no mind last section (i.e. `contemplation of mind-objects') has nothing in it and there is no mind-object and there is no mind-consciousness . . . that is worth `clinging to'.1 All of them can be subsumed under the . . . . it is impossible that he will point out a designation of term `concept' and that is to recognize their conditioned nature Þ obsession due to reckonings born of prolific perception." Þ M. I. the nature of arising-and-ceasing. 112 Madhupindika S.

1. cf. `sabbe dhammà nàla§ abhinivesàya' - M. I. 251. It would indeed appear strange to us that in Buddhist Cåla Taõhàsa§khaya S. `Nothing is worth clinging to'. psychology even contact and feeling Þ with which we are so intimate Þ are treated as `designations'. We might feel that

6 2 63 this is an intrusion of the `designation' into the jealously guarded arising of feeling; with the cessation of contact, is the cessation of recesses of the psyche. Yet this is not the case, for, in the very act of feeling. With the arising of name-and-form, is the arising of the apperception contacts and feelings are reckoned, evaluated, mind; with the cessation of name-and-form, is the cessation of the defined and designated on the basis of one's latencies (i.e. the mind. With the arising of attention, is the arising of mind-objects; aggregates).1 Thus there is hardly any justification for regarding with the cessation of attention, is the cessation of mind-objects." them as `the given', though we are accustomed to take them for Þ S. V. 184. Samudayo S. granted. In other words, what we are wont to treat as `the given', The catechism quoted at the beginning of this chapter reveals turns out to be `synthetic' and `composite' (sankhata). that the object dependent on which thoughts and concepts arise is `name-and-form'. This comprehensive term, it may be recalled, is The concepts on which the `Four Foundations of Mindfulness' the `partner' of consciousness in the vortical-interplay (Ch. V). It (cattàro satipaññhànà) are `established', have nothing `essential' in is noteworthy that name-and-form is often associated with the idea them in any ontological sense. The entire structure is a mere of `entering into' or `getting entangled', while delusion is expressly network utilized for the development of mindfulness and wisdom. called a net. It is a net meant for `seeing through' and hence when penetrative wisdom is fully developed, consciousness soars untrammelled I. `Behold this world with all its gods through the four-square meshes of the net. Fancying a self where naught exists Entering into name-and-form "Monks, I will teach you the arising and going-down of the Four It builds the conceit: "This is the Truth."' Foundations of Mindfulness. Listen attentively to it ...... What, Þ Sn. v. 756. Dvayatànupassanà S. monks, is the arising of the body? With the arising of nutriment is the arising of the body; with the cessation of nutriment, is II. `Let one put wrath away, conceit abandon the cessation of the body. With the arising of contact is the And get well beyond all fetters as well. 1. "ya§-kho bhikkhu anuseti, ta§ anumãyati, ya§ anumãyati, tena That one by name-and-form untrammelled sa§kha§ gacchati" And possessionless Þ no pains befall. Dhp. v. 221 Kodha Vagga (`Anger') "...... Råpa§ ce bhikkhave anuseti ta§ anumãyati, ya§ anumãyati tena sa§kha§ gacchati : Vedana§ ce ...... III. `No fire like lust is there Sa¤¤a§ ce ...... Sankhàre ce ...... Vi¤¤àna§ ce ...... No grip so tight as hate . . . " No net like crass delusion Þ S. III. 36f. No river like craving flows.' Dhp. v. 251 Mala Vagga (`Impurities') "That which lies latent, monk, by that is one measured, and that by which one is measured, by that is one reckoned . . . . . " In the Vaïgãsa Sutta of the Sutta Nipàta it is said that the venerable Nigrodhakappa `cut off the net of Maccu (an epithet of " ...... If form, monks, lies latent, by that is one Màra) Þ the net so treacherously spread by the Deceitful One' measured, that by which one is measured, by that is one (`acchidà maccuno jàla§ Þ tata§ màyàvino da¯ha§' Þ Sn. v. reckoned. If feeling ...... if perception ...... if formations 357). The commentary identifies the net with craving, probably ...... if consciousness ...... " connecting it with the reference to craving in v. 355.

6 4 65 consciousness always finds itself glued to this or that object which `He cut-off craving for this name-and-form' Þ so said the Lord. tends to becloud its vision of reality. These objects, forming the `Kaõha's1 stream which had lain so long ...... ' meshes of the net, have a simulating nature about them (see above: `double-bind'), which makes it difficult for one to thrust them out It is more likely, however, that the `net of Maccu' here referred to of the whole scheme of conscious life. They cannot be wished is name-and-form. Delusion is compared to a net2 in the above verse away, for they are there so long as the senses are there. Greed, of the Dhammapada, and moreover, the image usually associated hatred and delusion, which those objects as signs signify, are not with craving, which is always dynamic, is either a river (nadã) or a abandoned verbally or physically, but by wisdom: "What, monks, stream (sota) as in the two verses quoted above. are those things that are abandoned neither by body nor by word but by continually seeing with wisdom ? Greed, hatred ...... Owing to craving, consciousness finds itself enmeshed in name- delusion ...... anger ...... etc'. (A. V 39f). It is, therefore, and-form Þ its object (àrammaõa). All speculative views based on when consciousness is weaned away from the tendency to get sense-experience, however `logical' they may appear, are but enmeshed in the net of name-and-form, that the essence of the cobwebs on the net. Hence, when the dogmatic philosopher clings concept Þ `Deliverance' Þ is attained. Then one will be gazing to the theory he has spun out from his limited viewpoint and asserts: not at the net but through it, not at the `things' but at the nature of "I know, I see `tis verily so" (see above Kàlakàràma S.), all that he `things'. And it will be a gaze that is neither attentive, nor non- sees, according to the Buddha, is the net of name-and-form: attentive, neither conscious nor non-conscious, neither fixed nor not-fixed Þ a gaze that knows no horizon. `Some arrive at purity through dogmatic views, saying: "I know I see it is verily so." Even if he had seen, what difference does it make to him ? Having by-passed the truth, it is by another (alien) means that they proclaim purity.' `A seeing man will see name-and-form and having seen, he will know those alone. Verily let him see much or less; yet the experts do not speak of purity thereby.' Þ Sn. vv. 908-9, Mahà Viyåha S. All objects of the six senses lure consciousness into the net of name-and-form Þ craving being the decoy.3 Worldly

1. Kaõha : `Blackie', an epithet of Màra. 2. Note that the speculative views representative of delusion are often compared to nets (diññhijàla). See D. I. 46 Brahmajàla S. "By what track can you lead that Awakened One who is 3. trackless and to whom there is not that agglutinative ensnarer, Craving is called an `ensnarer' (`jàlinã' Þ i.e. `one having a net') `Craving' Þ to lead anywhere." in the following verse of the Dhammapada (v. 180) : `Yassa jàlinã visattikà Þ taõhà natthi kuhi¤ci netave Another epithet of craving that can be related to this idea is tam buddhamanantagocara§ Þ apada§ kena padena nessatha' `sibbanã' 'seamstress': (Sn. v. 1040; A III. 399f).

6 6 6 7 aware not only of his form but also of the feeling, perception, Chapter X intention, contact and attention pertaining thereto, in becoming self-conscious too, one is aware of a similar set of `objects' which NON - MANIFESTATIVE CONSCIOUSNESS are collectively called `name-and-form'.

`Consciousness which is non-manifestative1 Þ endless, As in any magic-show, here too an important part is played by `form' (råpa). That inertia peculiar to form provides the basis for lustrous on all sides, the most elementary judgement involved in the life of all Here it is that earth and water Þ fire and air no footing find; organisms, namely, the dichotomy of existence and non-existence. Here, again, are long and short Þ fine and coarse Þ pleasant "Seeing destruction and existence in material objects, a person unpleasant arrives at a resolution in the world" Þ (`råpesu disvà vibhava§ And name-and-form Þ are cut off without exception. bhava¤ca Þ vinicchaya§ kurute jantu loke' Þ Sn. v. 867 When consciousness comes to cease Þ all these are held in Kalahavivàda S.) Material objects appear to persist for some period before they get destroyed and in them the law of check herein.' impermanence has found a camouflage. It is possible that the D. I. 223 Kevaóóha S. perverted notion (vipallàsa) of permanence is radically traceable to a misjudgement in regard to material objects whereby the ever- The illusory nature attributed to consciousness by the present process of change was overlooked and the two extreme Buddha is, in a sense, a recognition of its reflexive character. views of absolute existence and absolute non-existence came to be Like a mirror (see above, Ch. VI) it reflects the five aggregates, asserted. the fifth of which is consciousness itself. This, indeed, is a But this is just one strand in the `tangle' of sa§sàric life forming magical illusion. Consciousness, when it reflects on itself, the `double-bind' (see Ch. V). There is another. It is the notion of reflects as `self-consciousness, and in fact all consciousness in sense-reaction or resistance (pañigha), which represents the polar the normal sense is self-consciousness. There is a curious opposite of the inertia associated with the perception-of-form duplicity involved Þ a veritable paradox. When one (råpasa¤¤à). It manifests itself as feeling, perception, intention, `identifies' oneself as reflected in the mirror of consciousness, contact and attention comprising `name' in `name-and-form'. The saying: `I am' or `Here I am', one has already taken for granted actual situation called sense-contact arises when both `name' and a duality, though unwittingly. Already, a gap is created as a `form' collaborate, "Depending on `name' and `form' arise split in experience, and consequently there sets in the contacts" (nàma¤ca råpa¤ca paticca phassà' Þ Sn. v. 872). Hence possibility of `measuring' as conceit (màna). Stated otherwise, when `form' ceases to exist, contacts cease to function (`råpe it is a dependence, or rather, an inter-dependence (see vibhåte na phusanti phassà' Þ ibid.). The problem, then, boils above, Ch. V). Just as much as one gazing at a mirror becomes down to this: "To one endowed in which manner does form cease to 1. Some aspects of this subject have already been discussed in my exist?" (`Katha§ sametassa vibhoti råpa§' Þ ibid. v. 873). earlier works: Concept and Reality in Early Buddhist Thought The reply to this question comes in the form of a paradox : "Neither (Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society. 1971): Sa§yutta Nikàya: is he percipient of normal perception, nor is he one of abnormal An Anthology. Part II (WHEEL Nos. 183/ 185): ideal Solitude: perception. He is not non-percipient nor has he put an end to An Exposition of the Bhaddekaratta Sutta (WHEEL No. 188). perception. It is to one who is thus constituted that form ceases to

6 8 6 9 function, for reckonings characterised by conceptual prolificity "Why, lord, did't you see (what happened) ?" 1 have perception as their source." "No friend, I did not see." "But, lord, didn't you hear the sound ?" Here we have an extraordinary level of perception which has fully extricated itself from the obsession of form, so basic to the "No, friend, I did not hear the sound." structure of perception. The negative formulation indicates that the "Why, lord, were you asleep (at the time) ?" transcendence is not by temporary or permanent suppression of "No, friend, I was not sleeping." perception. Rather, it suggests a case of seeing through perception "Why, lord, were you conscious (at the moment) ?" so that if anyone had enquired whether he was conscious of any "Yes, friend." sense-data or whether he was unconscious or non-conscious or completely without consciousness at the time he was in this level of "So then, lord, you being conscious (sa¤¤i samàno) and awake perception, he would have replied in the negative. Once, when the neither saw nor heard anything though it was raining in torrents Buddha was staying in the chaff-house at âtumà, there was a with flashes of lightning and peals of thunder!" torrential downpour of rain accompanied by lightning and thunder, "That is so, friend." in the course of which two farmers and four bulls at the chaff-house Þ D. II 131f. Mahàparinibbàna S. were struck down by lightning. A big crowd of people had gathered at the place of accident and the Buddha, coming out of the chaff- This dialogue might not appear so strange to you since you have house, was pacing up and down by its gate. A man from that crowd had a foretaste of it at the `magic-show'. Nevertheless, that state of came up to him and saluted him and then this dialogue followed: concentration which partakes of such a paradoxical character, did appear strange not only to `a-man-from-the-crowd' but even to "Why, friend, has this big crowd gathered here?" monks and nuns who were not yet arahants. Time and again we find "Just now, lord, when it was raining in torrents with flashes of them enquiring from the Buddha or from the senior disciples about lightning and peals of thunder, two farmers Þ brothers Þ and four the possibility and nature of such a concentration.1 Once the bulls were killed. That is why this big crowd has gathered. But venerable ânanda put the following question to the Buddha: where were you, lord ?" "Could there be, lord, for a monk such an attainment of "I was here itself, friend." concentration wherein he will not be conscious of earth in earth (na pañhavismi§ pañhavisa¤¤ã'), nor of water in water, nor of fire in 1. `Na sa¤¤asa¤¤ã na visa¤¤asa¤¤ã fire, nor of air in air, nor will he be conscious of the sphere of no pi asa¤¤ã na vibhåtasa¤¤ã infinity of space in the sphere of infinity of space, nor of the sphere eva§ saüetassa vibhoti råpa§ of infinity of consciousness in the sphere of infinity of sa¤¤ànidànà hi papa¤casa§khà Þ v. 874 consciousness, nor of the sphere of nothingness in the sphere of A free translation would require commoner expressions like nothingness, nor of the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non- `conscious' and `unconscious'. All along, it is a question of perception in the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, perception (sa¤¤à), but since apperception is implied by the word nor will he be conscious of a `this world' in this world, nor of a `sa¤¤ã', it conveys the sense of being `conscious' of something. `world beyond' in a world beyond Þ and yet he will be conscious?" This rendering is also used below. 1. A. IV 426ff.; V 7f., 318ff., 322ff., 353ff.

7 0 71 The Buddha replies that there could be such a state of possibility because of the reflexive character of consciousness. concentration for a monk and on being questioned as to how it is Instead of a consciousness of objects, here we have a possible, he explains: consciousness which is without an object or support.1 Whereas, "Herein, ânanda, a monk is thus conscious (eva§sa¤¤ã): `This is under normal circumstances, consciousness `mirrors' or manifests peace, this is excellent, namely, the calming down of all formations, something, in this concentration it is `non-manifestative'. It is as relinquishment of all assets (or substrata, upadhi), destruction of though, in a moment of detached contemplation, one has become craving, detachment, cessation, Nibbàna.' It is thus, ânanda, that aware of a raging fire, where formerly one had noticed only stock- there could be for a monk such an attainment of concentration . . . . . piles of fire-wood. " Þ A.V. 7f. "Form, monks, is on fire; feeling is on fire; perception is on fire; From this explanation it appears that perception is not formations are on fire; consciousness is on fire. completely rescinded here, only it has now discovered some kind of quasi-object worth attending to, instead of the usual objects such as "Thus seeing, monks, the instructed noble disciple gets earth, water, fire and air. It is none other than the cessation aspect of disgusted with form; gets disgusted with feeling; gets disgusted Dependent Arising, in the contemplation of which all formations with perception; gets disgusted with formations; gets disgusted that go to compound `things' are completely calmed down. with consciousness. Being disgusted, he becomes dispassionate; Consequently, all assets get liquidated, craving loses its sanction and through dispassion he is released; and in release there comes the supreme detachment, as the transcendental experience of the knowledge of release. Extinct is birth, lived out is the holy-life, cessation of all existence, is thereby realized even here and now. done is the task, and he understands: `There is nothing beyond this That this is a dynamic vision in which all percepts and concepts are for (a designation of) the conditions of this existence.'" Þ S. III 71 deprived of their object-status, is revealed by the following âditta S. explanation given by the venerable Sàriputta when the venerable ânanda put the self-same question to him : That there is a radical change of attitude resulting in a “ 'Cessation of becoming is Nibbàna, cessation of becoming is shift of focus from fuel to fire or from nutriment to its Nibbàna': thus, friend, one perception arises in me, another significance, is well illustrated by the Buddha's discourse to perception fades out in me. Just as, friend, when a faggot-fire is the venerable Sandha on this subject. There he draws a blazing, one flame arises and another flame fades out, even so, distinction between the musing of an unruly horse and that of a friend, one perception arises in me: `Cessation of becoming is thoroughbred. An unruly horse tethered to the trough does not Nibbàna' and another perception fades out in me: `Cessation of think: "What step of training will the trainer make me undergo becoming is Nibbàna.' At that time, friend, I was conscious of this: today ? How best should I respond to him ?" Instead, it goes on `Cessation of becoming is Nibbàna.' ” Þ A. V.9f. musing: `Fodder, fodder.' An excellent thoroughbred horse, on the Here, then, is a consciousness of the very cessation of other hand, does not muse: `Fodder, fodder' even though it is consciousness.1 Though well nigh a contradiction, it is yet a 1. cf. (i) `ñhita§ § vippamutta§ Þ vaya¤cassànupassati' Þ A. III 379. 1. i.e. anàrammaõa§. It is also called `unestablished' `Mind is firm and well released - He sees it's passing-away.' (appatiññha§) and `not-continuing' (appavattam). See below. (ii) `When consciousness comes to cease' Þ `vi¤¤àõassa nirodhena' (see verse at the head of this chapter).

72 73 tethered to the trough, but goes on musing : "What step of training cessation of existence (bhavanirodho), which is none other than will the trainer make me undergo today? How best should I respond `Nibbàna here-and-now', is the outcome of the eradication of the 1 to him?" Such a horse considers it as a debt, a bond, a misfortune or conceit `I am'. It is the element of egotistic measuring or reckoning bad-luck, to get whipped. With this simile the Buddha illustrates present in a perceptual situation that results in full-fledged the difference between the worldly musing of an untrained man and concepts. "What, monks, is the result of perception? Monks, I say the transcendental musing of `a good thoroughbred-of-a-man'. that perception has usage as its result. As one perceives so one The former, gone into solitude, does not understand as it really is expresses it, saying: `I was of such a perception (i.e. `thus 2 the stepping-out from sensuous lust, ill-will, sloth and torpor, conscious')'." `Reckonings characterised by conceptual restlessness-and-worry, and doubt, and dwells with a mind proliferation have perception as their source' (see above, Sn. v.874.) obsessed with those , brooding on them. And he When name-and-form which stands in the relation of `object' muses on earth, water, fire, air, sphere of infinity of space, sphere (àrammaõa) to concepts is transcended, the latter lose their point of infinity of consciousness, sphere of nothingness, sphere of of reference Þ their foothold. Hence earth, water, fire and air, neither-perception-nor-non-perception; he muses dependent on together with such relative distinctions as long and short, subtle this world, on the world beyond, on whatever is seen, heard, sensed, and gross, pleasant and unpleasant `find no footing' in that non- cognized, attained, sought after and traversed by the mind Þ manifestative consciousness. The fecundity of concepts which dependent on all that he muses. But a good thoroughbred-of-a-man manifests itself in normal perception as the `essence' or gone into solitude, does not dwell obsessed with the hindrances, `substance', is thereby destroyed. brooding on them, as he understands the `stepping-out' from them. "Consciousness which is non-manifestative, infinite and And he does not muse dependent on earth, water, fire, air and other lustrous all round: it does not partake of the solidity of earth, the `objects' above mentioned. `Nevertheless,' it is said, `he does cohesiveness of water, the hotness of fire, the movement of air, the muse' (`jhàyati ca pana'). This musing which is not dependent on creaturehood of creatures, the devahood of devas, the Pajàpatihood any object is said to be so strange that even gods and Brahmas from of Pajàpati, the Brahmahood of Brahmà, the radiance of the afar bow down saying: Radiant Ones, the lustre of the Lustrous Ones, the Vehapphalahood of the Vehapphala Brahmas, the Overlord-ship of the Overlord and `We worship thee, thou thoroughbred of men, the allness of the all."3 We worship thee, most excellent of men. M. I. 329f, Brahmanimantanika S. For what it is whereon depending thou Art musing Þ that we cannot comprehend.'1 1. see A. IV 358. Þ A. V. 323ff. 2. `Vohàravepakkàha§ bhikkhave sa¤¤am vadàmi, yathà yathà na§ sa¤jànàti, tathà tathà voharati `eva§sa¤¤i ahosinti'- `Objects' play no part in this `perception' precisely for the A. III 413. reason that the `subject' is missing. This experience of the 3. `sabbassa sabbattena ananubhåta§' : `Consciousness which 1. cf. `avitakka-samàdhi' Þ `thought-less concentration' (Ud. does not partake of the allness of the all.' 71); 'avitakka jhàyã' Þ `one who meditates thoughtless' (S. I. 126); cf. "Monks, I will teach you the `all'. Listen well ...... `jhàyati anupàdàno' Þ `meditates fuel-less or without clinging' What, monks, is the `all'? Eye and forms; ear and sounds; nose and smells; tongue and tastes; body and tangibles; mind and (Thag. vv. 840-861); `avitakka§ samàpanno' Þ `one who has ideas. This, monks, is called the `all'". attained to the thoughtless concentration' (Thag. v. 999).

74 75 Having lost their fecundity in the emancipated mind, concepts objects which earlier appeared to be `significant' due to the do not lend themselves to proliferation (papa¤ca). The bewitching gleam of sense-consciousness. Consequently, this emancipated one, who has realized the voidness of concepts experience is sometimes referred to as `the cessation of the six through higher knowledge, no longer entertains egotistic sense-spheres' (sa¯àyatananirodha). imaginings based on them. "Therefore, monks, that sphere should be known wherein the "And the Tathàgata, too, monks, who is an Arahant, Fully eye ceases and the perception of form fades away; the ear ceases Enlightened, understands earth as earth through higher and the perception of sounds fades away; the nose ceases and the knowledge; knowing earth as earth through higher knowledge, he perception of smells fades away; the tongue ceases and the does not conceive earth to be earth; he does not conceive : `on the perception of tastes fades away; the body ceases and the perception earth'; he does not conceive : `from the earth'; he does not of tangibles fades away; the mind ceases and the perception of conceive : `earth is mine'; he does not delight in earth. What is the ideas fades away Þ that sphere should be known, that sphere reason for this? I say, it is because it has been well comprehended should be known." by him." Þ M. I 5f. Målapariyàya S. Þ S. IV Lokakàmaguõa S. (2) As the Kàlakaràma Sutta puts it, the Tathàgata does not The monks who referred this brief utterance of the Buddha to conceive of a visible thing as apart from sight and entertains no the venerable ânanda for explanation, were told that it concerns conceits of a `thing-worth-seeing' or of a seer. This is the result of the cessation of the six sense-spheres. Just as much as the cessation the conviction gained through his transcendental experience of of consciousness is called `non-manifestative consciousness' in so the extinction of all phenomena in that non-manifestative far as it is yet a level of experience,1 the cessation of the six sense- consciousness. spheres is also described as a sphere (àyatana). When consciousness is not arrested by any object at the point of focus, it penetrates through the net of name-and-form out into "There is, monks, that sphere wherein there is neither earth, nor an infinitude, and `viewpoints' give place to an all encompassing water, nor fire, nor air; wherein is neither the sphere of infinity of vision. In this respect, it is described as `lustrous-all-round' space, nor that of infinity of consciousness, nor that of (sabbatopabha§), and the lustre is wisdom itself.1 The nothingness, nor that of neither-perception-nor-non-perception; illumination brings about a `fading away' (viràga) of all wherein there is neither this world nor a world beyond, nor moon and sun. There, monks, I declare, is no coming, no going, no "Whoever, monks, should say: `Rejecting this "all" I will point out another "all"' Þ it will only be a vain boast on his part, stopping, no passing-away and no arising. It is not established and when questioned, he will not be able to make good his boast. (appatiññha§) it continues not (appavatta§), it has no object Furthermore, he will come to an ill pass. Why so? Because, (anàrammaõa§). This indeed is the end of suffering. " Þ Ud. 80. monks, it is beyond his power to do so." Þ S. IV. 15. 1. cf. "Monks, there are these four lustres (pabhà). What are the 1. cf. `...... chando ca våpasanto hoti, vitakko ca våpasanto four? The lustre of the moon, the lustre of the sun, the lustre of hoti, sa¤¤à ca våpasantà honti tappaccayàpi vedayita§' fire, the lustre of wisdom ...... Monks, among these four, Þ S. V. 13. the lustre of wisdom (pa¤¤apabhà) is indeed the most excellent." Þ A. II. 139f. `Desire is appeased, thought is appeased, perceptions are `No lustre like unto that of wisdom' Þ S. I. 6. appeased, owing to that also there is an experience'.

76 77 The world of sense-experience where laws of relativity `The world enfettered to delusion dominate is thus transcended in a `sphere' which is not somewhere Feigns a promising mien 1 in outer space but within this very fathom-long body. Together The fool to his assets bound with those sense-objects which appear to be concrete such as Sees only darkness around earth, water, fire, air, sun and moon, such abstract notions It looks as though it would last associated with them as `coming', `going', `stopping', `passing- But to him who sees there's naught.' away' and `arising', also fade away. Sights, sounds, smells, tastes, Þ Ud. 79. touches and ideas Þ all of which are `signs' (see Ch. III) Þ have `Sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, ideas, now lost their `significance.' They no longer signify `things', for All what they deem desirable Þ charming, pleasing things lust, hatred and delusion are extinct in the emancipated one. All Of which they claim: `it is' Þ as far as their claim extends that his `Signless Deliverance of the Mind' (`animittà cetovimutti' The world with its gods is agreed that these are pleasant things - see M. I 298 Mahàvedalla S.) now signifies is the very absence of And wherein they surcease Þ `That's unpleasant indeed' lust, hatred and delusion in him which, in effect, is the knowledge say they. of Nibbàna (a¤¤à) Þ the cessation of all birth and becoming and of all formations that breed manifold suffering. As bliss the Noble Ones have seen the curb on self-hood bias. Behold! In contrast is their vision with that of the entire world. "Monks, there is a not-born, a not-become, a not-made, a not- What others spoke of in terms of bliss, that as woe the saints compounded. Monks, if that not-born, not-become, not-made, declared. not-compounded were not, there would be no stepping out here What others spoke of in terms of woe, that as bliss the saints from what is born, become, made, compounded. But since, have known. monks, there is a not-born, a not-become, a not-made, a not- Behld! A Norm so hard to grasp Þ baffled herein are compounded, therefore there is a stepping-out from what is born, ignorant ones. become, made, and compounded. "2 Þ Ud. 80f. Murk it is to those enveloped, as darkness unto the undiscerning, 1. cf. " ...... It is in this very fathom-long physical frame with But to the Good wide ope' it is, as light is unto those discerning. its perceptions and mind that, I declare, lies the world and the So near, and yet they know not Þ Fools! Unskilled in the Norm. arising of the world and the cessation of the world and the path leading to the cessation of the world." The above epithets of Nibbàna are therefore psychological, and Þ S. I. 62 Rohitassa S. not metaphysical, in their import. Where there is no 'putting- together', there is no 'falling-apart'. Hence Nibbàna is also called 2. In a psychological sense, a design could be `unmade' or apalokita§ Þ the 'Non-disintegrating'. `dissolved' by shifting one's attention to its components. Even so, `what is born' (jàta§), `become' (bhåta§), `made' It is unfortunate that many scholars, both Eastern and Western, (kata§) and `compounded' (sa§khata§) is transformed into a have interpreted metaphysically the two passages from the Udàna `not-born', `not-become', `not-made' and `not-compounded' quoted here, bringing out conclusions which are hardly in keeping state by a penetrative insight into its causes and conditions. All with the teachings on Anattà. The widespread tendency is to see in `designs', involved in the magic-show of consciousness, these two passages a reference to some mysterious, nondescript which are but dependently arisen, also cease when ignorance realm in a different dimension of existence, though the Buddha was and craving are eradicated. positive that all existence is subject to the law of impermanence.

78 79 By those who are given to lust for becoming, Chapter XI By those who are swept by the current of becoming, By those who have slipped into Màra's realm, Not easily comprehended is this Norm. PEACE IS BLESS IN NIBBANA Þ AN EPILOGUE Who else but the Noble Ones deserve To waken fully unto that state Lead me from untruth to truth ! By knowing which, being influx-free, Lead me from darkness to light ! Tranquil Nibbàna they attain.' Lead me from death to deathlessness !

Such was the yearning of the Indian mind. It was a yearning in Þ Sn. vv. 759-765. Dvayatànupassanà Sutta sympathy with the highest aspirations of mankind. The Kàlakàràma Sutta, when understood in the light of the salient teachings of the Buddha, would go a long way in showing us how this yearning could be fulfilled. There is, however, a radical departure in Buddhism in regard to the approach to these problems of Truth, Light and Deathlessness. Truth, which is the key to the riddle of existence, was hitherto believed to be in the custody of a Godhead. Light, which dispels the gloom of the spirit, could be propitiated Þ it was thought Þ only in a mystic absorption with that Godhead. Immortality, which solves the problem of death Þ the inexorable tragedy of all living beings Þ was supposed to have been secured only in a different dimension of existence where the immortal gods (amarà) eternally revel in their ambrosia (amrta). In contradistinction to this popular psychology, the naivet‚ of which the metaphysicians tried in vain to conceal, comes the message of the Buddha. He discovered Truth where one least expected to find it. Existence and its cessation, the problem and its solution, were found interwoven in a tangle at the very vortex of all existence Þ if only one could disentangle it ! And this he successfully did and also revealed to humanity the way of setting about it. Truth, according to him, is in no one's custody and has no esoterism or mysticism associated with it.

80 81 It is a question of `seeing things as they are' and once the necessary (see Ch. V.) The problem of illumination, therefore, was not clarity of vision is developed, one could see it in all its lucidity and dependent on any union or absorption with a Godhead, which is limpidity in the very structure of all phenomena. Dhamma, as equivalent to merging one darkness (`self') in another truth, invites one to `come-and-see' (ehipassiko). darkness(`Self'). Only the `self-created' artificial confines had to be broken down with a penetrative flash of wisdom in order that "Just as if there were a lake in a mountain recess, clear, limpid consciousness may develop its capacity to be infinite and all- and unturbid so that a man with good eyes standing there on the lustrous. And the discovery that this capacity is already there in the bank, saw shells, gravel and pebbles and also shoals of fish mind (if only one could develop it!) comes as an unexpected revelation to mankind. swimming about and resting, who might think : `There is this lake, clear, limpid and unturbid and there are these shells, gravel and "This mind, monks, is luminous, but it is defiled by extraneous pebbles and also shoals of fish swimming about and resting' ; so defilements. That the uninstructed ordinary man does not too, monks, a monk understands, as it really is: `This is suffering'; understand as it is. Therefore there is no mind-development for the he understands as it really is : `This is the arising of suffering'; . . . . uninstructed ordinary man, I declare. `This is the cessation of suffering'; ...... `This is the path "This mind, monks, is luminous, and it is released from leading to the cessation of suffering.' He understands as they extraneous defilements. That the instructed noble disciple really are: `These are influxes'; he understands as it really is : `This understands as it is. Therefore there is mind-development for the is the arising of influxes'; ...... `This is the cessation of instructed noble disciple. I declare. " Þ A. I. 10. influxes'; ...... `This is the path leading to the cessation of influxes.' And the mind of him who knows and sees thus, is The Buddha realized that `birth' and `death' are inseparable released from the influxes of sense-desires, from the influxes of corollaries of the conceit of existence. The law of impermanence becoming, from the influxes of ignorance. In release there arises which holds sway even in heavenly realms would militate against the knowledge of release and he understands: Extinct is birth, lived any notion of immortal existence. Besides, the quest for immortal out is the holy life, done is the task; there is nothing beyond this for existence was only a symptom of the deep-seated fear of death. If (a designation of) the conditions of this existence. " M. I. 279f. only this obsessional fear could be removed the problem would Mahà Assapura S. be no more. Hence he advanced a novel type of solution to the problem of life and death. He pointed out that although The darkness that beclouds the clarity of vision in our mental immortal existence is impossible, one could still experience 1 life was traced by the Buddha to the delusion of a `self'. The `ambrosial' deathlessness - and that even here and now. One had delusion as `the point-of-view' (see above Ch. VI) created a to recognize fully the truths of impermanence, suffering and background of ignorance in order to perpetuate itself. The not-self whereby `existence', on which both `birth' and ` death' mind became committed and limited due to ignorance and 1. cf. `Kàyena amata§ dhàtu§ phusayitvà nirpåpadhi§ craving. Here is a case of `possession' giving rise to a upadhipañinissagga§ sacchikatvà anàsavo `prepossession', an `acquisition' resulting in a `privation'. The deseti sammàsambuddho asoka§ viraja§ pada§' Þ Itiv. 62 knowledge amassed by the six sense-spheres functioning within the narrow confines staked out for them by the ego, was thus `Having touched with the body the Deathless Element found to be tantamount to an `ignorance'. There was the inevitable which is Asset-less and realized the relinquishment of all dichotomy of an `internal' and an `external' sense-base, and assets, the Fully Enlightened One who is influx-free, teaches consciousness was cramped up between a `here' and a `there' the Sorrowless, Taintless State.'

82 83 depended, is made to cease. The remedy, it would appear, was experience has put his sense-faculties out of alignment (see somewhat on `homoeopathic' lines though the `dose' of Note 3 p.8), save for the fact that lust, hatred and delusion no impermanence to be administered was by no means 'minute'. The longer affect their functioning. His synoptic understanding of approach was so radical that it even entailed the strange paradox the five aspects in regard to the six sense-spheres1 enables that if the reflection on death is systematically well developed it him to live in the world though he is not of the world,2 and it is would get merged in the Deathless (`amatogadhà' A. V. 105) ! in this respect that the `Nibbàna-element-with-residual-clinging' Thus instead of attempting to `stifle' death artificially by heavenly (saupàdisesà nibbànadhàtu) becomes significant. ambrosia, the Buddha saw to it that death died a natural death in a sphere of transcendental experience of a 'Deathless' attainable in " ...... And what, monks, is the Nibbàna element-with- this very `mortal world'. residual-clinging'? Herein, monks, a monk is an arahant whose 1. "By the Tathàgata, monks, that incomparable excellent state of `That destruction (of craving), that detachment, that excellent peace has been fully understood, that is to say, that deliverance (ambrosial) Deathlessness which the Sàkya Sage attained being concentrated Þ there is nothing comparable to that Dhamma . . . . ' without grasping, having understood as they really are, the Þ Sn. v. 225 Ratana S.1 arising, the passing-away, the satisfaction, the misery and the `stepping-out' in regard to the six sense spheres" Þ M. II 237 Pa¤cattaya S. (see also Brahmajàla S.) The Buddha's approach Þ it may be repeated Þ was so radical 2. that it even dispensed with the supplicating attitude behind the Since his transcendence is final and complete, there is actually words `Lead me' in the yearning cited above. The Dhamma as the no `coming-back'. `Once crossed over, the Such-like One Suchness of phenomena (see Ch. VIII) had the inherent capacity to comes not back' (pàra§gato na pacceti tàdi Þ Sn. v. 803). Yet `lead on' (opanayiko) and hence no divine grace was found to be his alternation between the two Nibbàna-elements, necessary. It was only a question of entering the Stream of `Anupàdisesa' (i.e. Niråpadhi§) and `Saupàdisesa' is an Dhamma (dhammasoto) which runs counter (pañisotagàmã) to the apparent `return'. broader saüsàric stream of suffering. `Na pàra§ digunam yanti Þ na ida§ ekaguna§ mutam' The realization here-and-now (sandiññhiko) of the spiritual `They go not twice to the farther shore goal as represented by Truth, Light and Deathlessness, does Nor yet is it reckoned a going-once' Þ Sn. v. 714. not put the emancipated one totally out of alignment with the "Released, detached and delivered from ten things Bàhuna, world preventing all mediation. In the principle of Dependent does the Tathàgata dwell with a mind unrestricted. Which are the Arising (see Ch. IV) he has discovered a safeguard against the ten? Released, detached and delivered from form does the conflicts that normally arise when there is an unbridgeable Tathàgata dwell with a mind unrestricted. Released, detached gap between levels of experience. The Kalàkàràma Sutta in and delivered from feeling, from perception, from formations, particular portrays how cautious the Buddha was in this concern. from consciousness, from birth, from decay, from death, from Nor is it the case that the realization of a transcendental sphere of pains, from defilements, Bàhuna, does the Tathàgata dwell with a mind unrestricted. Just as, Bàhuna, a blue, red or white lotus 1. This state is also known as ànantarika samàdhi - `immediate born in the water, grown in the water, comes up above the surface concentration' (see Sn. v. 226). The timeless (akàliko) nature of the water and remains unsmeared with water, even so the of the Dhamma is implied here. Tathàgata Þ being released, detached and delivered from these ten things Þ dwells with a mind unrestricted." Þ A. V. 152.

84 85 influxes are extinct, who has lived out the holy life, accomplished Unfortunately, the most widely known epithet for the summum the task, laid down the burden, reached his goal, whose fetters of bonum of Buddhism has acquired in course of time a stigma of existence are fully extinct and who is freed through right being too negative in its connotations. Despite obvious canonical knowledge. His five sense-faculties still remain, which being evidence there is a hesitation to recognize the fact that it essentially undestroyed, he partakes of the pleasant and the unpleasant and signifies an extinguishing (if not `extinction' - the dismal word !). experiences the pleasurable and the painful. The extinction of lust, There is something traumatic in one's response to the so-called hatred and delusion in him Þ this, monks, is called the Nibbàna- `negative definitions' and hence we usually leave the word element-with-residual-clinging." Þ Itiv. 38f. `Nibbàna' untranslated, though its more `sociable' companions1 fare better in this respect. This tendency becomes more marked Even though the emancipated one apparently `comes back' to when, for instance, Nibbàna is clearly defined in the Suttas as the the world of sense-experience, the bliss of Nibbàna is yet the same destruction of lust, hatred and delusion2 and then even the 'inward-peace' (ajjhattasanti) or appeasement (upasama). Like commentary (S.A.) is rather apologetic. If, as mentioned above, other aspects of transcendence, this too is not always easily `desirelessness' is itself the Supreme Bliss, perhaps Nibbàna could appreciated by the world. That there could be a form of bliss in the easily vindicate its rights to be considered a `positive' happiness. absence of desires, is something that is equally paradoxical as the Since the totality of existence is illustrated by the simile of the fire, ones cited before. And yet radical reflection might reveal that, as a Nibbàna as its extinction is also the experience of appeasement or matter of fact, it is not the desire that is blissful, but its appeasement. Desire, being a form of stress and tension, like tranquillity. It is, therefore, associated with the idea of becoming hunger and thirst, is in itself a malady, and it is only its cool : "Having become hunger-less, extinguished, and grown cool `appeasement' that even in our `normal' life brings happiness. The even here and now, I proclaim parinibbàna (perfect extinguishing) tragedy, however, is that the appeasement bought at the price of the which is free from clinging (or fuel)." (Þ A.V 65.) This `perfect desired object is short-lived, for even like a fire, desire flares up extinguishing' or `appeasement' which involves no 'fuel' at all, is again with renewed force. It is owing to this fact that the Buddha one that could be enjoyed `free-of-charge' : "Those who, with a did not recognize it as a real appeasement. On the contrary, he saw firm mind exert themselves well in the dispensation of Gotama, in it a vain attempt to extinguish a fire by adding more and more they being free from desire have reached their goal and having fuel to it. The principle underlying the attempt to appease desires plunged into the Deathless (amata§ vigayha), are enjoying the nevertheless reveals that desires in themselves are not blissful. appeasement (nibbuti) obtained `free-of-charge' (mudhà) . . . Þ Now, if appeasement of desires is what is really blissful, Sn.v.228 Ratana S. `desirelessness' as the appeasement of all desires would be the 1 Supreme Bliss and this in fact is what Nibbàna is. With the appeasement of formations (sa§khàråpasama) the

1. `magic-show' of consciousness ends for the emancipated one, Nibbàna is the appeasement of all feelings as well, for, `Whatever well before it ends as scheduled Þ at death. The magic has lost is felt, is concerned with pain' (`ya§kinci vedayita§ ta§ its magic for him and never again will he waste his `time' and dukkhasmi§' Þ S. II. 53). `money' on such empty shows. Before he makes his `exit' When the venerable Sàriputta declared: "Friend, this 1. Thirty - three epithets are given at S. IV. 368ff. Nibbàna is bliss ! This Nibbàna is bliss !", the venerable Udàyi 2. asked him : "What bliss is there, friend Sàriputta, where there is "Yo kho àvuso ràgakkhayo dosakkhayo mohakkhayo ida§ no feeling ?" The reply was: "This itself, friend, is the bliss vuccati nibbàna§" Þ S. IV 251. therein Þ the fact that there is no feeling." (A. IV 414f.). "The destruction of lust, the destruction of hatred, the destruction of delusion, friend, is called Nibbàna."

86 87 he has gained an unshakable conviction (a¤¤à) of the emptiness of INDEX the show, now that he has seen the wily tricks of the magician. Instead of the bliss-of-ignorance enjoyed by the frenzied worldly Subjects and Names audience, he has enjoyed gratis the tranquil bliss-of-emancipation Þ the Supreme, Noble Appeasement (`paramo ariyo upasamo' A contact 29, 30, 31, 32, 58, 59, Þ M. III 246 Dhàtuvibhanga S.). "There is no bliss higher than 60, 63, 64, 65, 69 natthi santipara§ sukha§ Dhp peace' (` ' Þ . v. 202). Affirmation: denial 13 craving 8, 20, 31, 50, 53, 65, Aggregates (Groups) of Grasp- 66, 67, 71, 83 Through many a sa§sàric birth I ran ing. Five 5 (similes). 35, Seeking the house-builder in vain 37, 38, 39, 40, 42, 43, 64, 68 D appeasement 86, 67, 88 Pain it is to be born again and again. Assaji's stanza 51 Death 54, 83, 84, 87 assets (upadhi) 33, 38, 83 Deathless, the 58, 59, 60, 81, O ! house-builder, thou art seen attached 53 83, 84, 89 Thou shalt build no house again attention 58, 59, 60, 65 delusion 65, 66, 82 Shattered lie all thy rafters Dependent Arising 18, 19, 21, B Thy roof-top is torn asunder 25, 26, 32, 37, 44, 45, 47, 48, Bàhiya 43 49, 50, 51, 52, 55, 72, 84 becoming 33, 49, 72, 80 designation 63, 73 Mind attained fermentless state - ,guide in 53, 55 desire 58, 59, 77, 86 Reached is craving's end. birth 34 desirelessness 86, 87 bliss 86, 87, 88 dichotomy 31, 32, 69, 82 double-bind 28, 33, 35, 67, 69 Þ Dhp. vv. 153 - 4 C Cause 50,51 E cessation 72, 75, 77, 78 Ego 33, 34 conceit 9, 21, 33, 31, 55, 56, 65, elements, four great 30,68, 68,75 71, 74, 75, 77, 78 concentration 58, 60, 71, 72, elernalism 35 73, 74 existence 20, 33, 69, 83 concept 57, 59, 60, 62, 64, existing-body (sakkàya) 36, 37 70, 75, 76 experience, levels of 17, 18, 77, conditionality 45, 48 84 consciousness 5, 13, 15, 20, 25, Þ , split in 33 26, 27, 28, 31, 32, 33, 38, 39, extinction 87 49, 66, 67, 68, 70, 71, 73, Eye of Truth 37, 38, 51 75, 76, 83

88 89 Q F M stream-winner 37 Questions, types of 22 Faith 47 Mahàpadàna Sutta 26 substance 14, 15 feeling 5, 33, 58, 59, 63, 64 Mahàrakkhita 1 "Such" (Such-like) 11, 52, 54, R finite 22, 23 manifestative 16 55 Reality 15, 16, 28 firmness 52, 54, 55 meaning 59, 60 Suchness 45, 48, 52, 84 re-becoming 50 floods 41, 42 mindfulness 58, 61, 64 suicide 54 reckoning 43, 62, 63, 64, 70, 75 flux 46, 48 musing 74 support 53, 54, 55, 73, recognition 14 form (-group) 29, 30, 31, 69, 70 symbol 14 N reflection 59, 60 T relatedness 44, 45 G Name-and-form 19, 25, 26, 27, Tangle 28, 31, 32 resistance 28, 29 Godhead 81, 83 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 58, 65, Tathàgata 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, (see also Sense-reaction) Grasping 14, 20, 33, 38 66, 67, 69, 75, 76, 15, 35, 44, 85 greed (see Lust) name-group 29, 30 tetralemma 2, 9, 13, 14 S Groups of Grasping (see net 64, 65, 66, 67, 76 things 14, 15, 16, 50, 57, 58, Satipatthàna Sutta 60 Aggregates) Nibbàna 17, 38, 60, 72, 75, 78, 59, 67, 72 79, 80, 85, 86, 87 seen, heard, etc. 8, 9, 11, 14 thingness 52 seer, hearer, etc, the 10, 11, H nihilism 35 Thusness 45 55, 76 Hindrances, five 74 non-manifestative 68, 73, 75, truth 17, 21, 22, 24, 66, 81 76, 77 self 34, 38, 46, 48, 53, 55, 61, transcendence, transcendental 68, 83 J no-thing 52, 53 42, 70, 72, 84, 85, 87 sense-data 13, 15, 43, 49 "I am", conceit or notion of nutriment 64 sense-experience 43 33, 35, 68, 75 U sense perception (see percep- identification 49, 52, 53, 68 O Unattached 52, 53 tion) ignorance 18, 26, 27, 43, 50, 82 Objects 16, 66, 69, 72, 73, 74, untruth 17 sense-percepts 15 impermanence 14, 48,52,69,83 75, 77 sense-reaction 32, 69 immortality 81, 83 omniscience 8, 22 V (see also Resistance) infinite 22, 23 Verbal impression 29, 30 sense-spheres, six 19, 27, 28, influxes (cankers) 41, 42 P view (points) 8, 11, 20, 21, 22, 29, 31, 32, 77, 82, 85 interest 58, 59 Path, Noble Eightfold 42, 43 23, 24, 34, 35, 36, 76, 82 perception 5, 9, 14, 15, 42, 63, sign 14, 15, 16, 29, 30, 31, 67, void (-ness) 5, 11 K 78 Kàla-Buddharakkhita 2 69, 70, 74, 75, 77 vortex, vortical 25, 26, 28, 32, personality-view 34, 38 significance, signify, etc. 14, 34, 65, 81 15, 16, 60, 67, 78 L primaries, four 30 (see also Elements,four) Signless Deliverance 78 W Latencies, latent 41, 42, 64 soul 36, 46 luminous (lustrous) mind 76, 83 proliferation, proliferating 49, Wisdom 59,60 63, 70, 75, 76 sphere 77,78 world 22,23 lust (greed), hatred, delusion stand, takes no 8, 9, 13 15, 16, 38, 78, 85, 86 standpoint 19, 20, 21, 52, 53, 54

90 91 By the same author 1. Concept and Reality in Early Buddhist Thought - (1971) * Pàli Words 2. Samyutta Nikàya - An anthology, Part. II Wheel No. 183/185 - (1972) * Atammaya 52 nimitta 15, 31 3. Ideal Solitude-Wheel No. 188 - (1973) * aditñha 10 pa¤¤atti 63 4. The Magic of the Mind - (1974) adhivacana-samphassa 29,31 pañicca-samuppàda 18, 26, 44 5. Uttaritara Hudekalawa - 'Damsak' No. 172/173 - (1990) * anattà 61,79 pañigha 28, 69 -do- (New edition) – D.G.M.B. - (2001) anusaya 41 Þ samphassa 29, 31 6. Towards Calm and Insight - (1991) avitakka 74 papa¤ca 70, 73, 76 7. Vidasun Upades - (1996) asmi-màna 33 phassa 29, 59, 63 8. Nivane Niveema - (1997-2004)–D.G.M.B.(All 11 Volumes issued) ànantarikà samàdhi 84 bhava-netti 53, 55 9. From Topsy-turvydom to Wisdom - Volume-1 - (1998) àsava 41 ma¤¤ati 9, 10, 14 10. Pahan Kanuwa Dharma Deshanà – Vol I - (1999) (D.G.M.B.) idappaccayatà 45 ma¤¤anà 9, 43, 48, 53 11. Seeing Through - (1999) upaññhàsi 9 ma¤¤ita§ 55 12. Hitaka Mahima -1 - (1999) 13. Nivane Niveema - Library Edition-Part I - (2000) upadhi 33, 38 manasikàra 59 14. Hita Thanima - (2000) upàdàna 33 Þ yoniso 5, 39, 59 15. Pahan Kanuwa Dharma Deshanà –Vol. II ogha 41 Þ ayoniso 16 16. Towards A Better World-Translation of 'Lo-Wada Sangarawa- chanda 59 màna 68 (2000) jhàyati-jhàyÑ 74 råpa 69 17. Pavatma Hà Navatma - (2001) tathà 45 - sa¤¤à 69 18. Athi Hati Dakma - (2001) tathatà 45, 52 vipallàsa 69 19. Pahan Kanuwa Dharma Deshanà –Vol. III - (2002) tàdi 11, 52 saïkhà 62 20. Kaya Anuwa Giya Sihiya - (2001) daññhabbam 10 saïkhata 64 21. Divi Katare Sanda Andura - (2001) daññhà 10 sakkàya 34, 36, 38 22. Mà-Piya Uvatana - (2002) daññhàram 10 sa¤¤à, sa¤¤ã 14, 15, 70, 71, 75 23. Prathipatti Påjàwa - (2003) diññha 10 sabba¤¤utà 8 24. Nibbàna-The Mind Stilled – Vol. I - (2003) dhammà 57, 58 su¤¤atà 11 25. Pahan Kanuwa Dharma Deshanà –Vol. IV - (2003) hetu 50, 51 26. Pahan Kanuwa Dharma Deshanà –Vol. V - (2005) 27. Pahan Kanuwa Dharma Deshanà –Vol. VI - (2006) 28. Abinikmana - (2003) 29. Hitaka Mahima – II - (2003) 30. Nibbàna-The Mind Stilled – Vol. II - (2004) 31. Nibbàna-The Mind Stilled – Vol. III - (2005) 32. Nibbàna-The Mind Stilled – Vol. IV - (2006) 33. Nibbàna-The Mind Stilled – Vol. V - (2007) * Buddhist Publication Society, P.O.Box 61, Kandy. fn!oaO .%J: m%ldYk iñ;sh" ;e'fm' 61" uykqjr'

92 93 No. of Books Published by D.G.M.B. Copies 01. Nivane Niveema Volume One 11000 02. Nivane Niveema Volume Two 8000 03. Nivane Niveema Volume Three 5000 04. Nivane Niveema Volume Four 6000 05. Nivane Niveema Volume Five 5000 06. Nivane Niveema Volume Six 3500 07. Nivane Niveema (Lib Ed) Part One(Vol. 1-6) 500 08. Nivane Niveema Volume Seven 6000 09. Nivane Niveema Volume Eight 6000 10. Nivane Niveema Volume Nine 3000 11. Nivane Niveema Volume Ten 3000 12. Nivane Niveema Volume Eleven 3000 13. Pahan Kanuwa Dharma Deshanà Volume One 9000 14. Pahan Kanuwa Dharma Deshanà Volume Two 8000 15. Pahan Kanuwa Dharma Deshanà Volume Three 6000 16. Pahan Kanuwa Dharma Deshanà Volume Four 3000 17. Pahan Kanuwa Dharma Deshanà Volume Five 3000 18. Pahan Kanuwa Dharma Deshanà Volume Six 4000 19. ‘Hitaka Mahima’ Volume One 6000 20. ‘Hitaka Mahima’ Volume Two 6000 21. Uttareetara Hudekalawa 8000 22. Vidasun Upades 9000 23. Chalana Chitrays 3000 24. Towards A Better World 6000 25. Seeing Through 3000 26. Nibbàna-The Mind Stilled Volume I 3000 27. Nibbàna-The Mind Stilled Volume II 3000 28. Nibbàna-The Mind Stilled Volume III 3000 29. Nibbàna-The Mind Stilled Volume IV 1000 30. Nibbàna-The Mind Stilled Volume V 2000

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